He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
by syaoran no hime
Summary: RenPirika. Ren, now cast as the delicate micromaiden ThumbeRena, is under the orders of the play's director, Pirika. A second chance for them, maybe?
1. Default Chapter

"He loves me, he loves me not. He loves me, he loves me not…"  Ren Tao watched in astonishment as Pirika mutilated the petals of a flower one by one as she spoke.

"What did that plant do to you to deserve dying like that?" asked Ren, rolling his eyes.

Pirika smiled and continued tearing the flower petals apart mercilessly. "It let me found it." 

Ren groaned, then looked at the clock. It had been an hour since Horo Horo left him to hide from his younger sister.

He remembered what the blue-haired idiot said before doing his disappearing act. "You're Ren Tao, and you're a strong shaman. You can survive my sister. Don't worry, I'll make it up to you somehow. I'll bring you milk…I'll bring you a cow even! Just don't tell my sister that I'm here." Horo Horo winked. "I had enough training programs to last two lifetimes…and my sister has this strange respect for you."

So here he was, Ren Tao, head of the much-revered Tao clan, playing babysitter-cum-decoy to the bubbly Ainu girl.

"He loves me…he loves me not…he loves me…" continued Pirika.

Ren sighed. "What does a flower know about his feelings anyway?"

"You wouldn't understand," she said proudly.

"If you really want to know what his feelings are for you, go ask him," he suggested.

To his shock, the girl blushed profusely. Her eyes suddenly went back to the flower. "I-I…I don't think he would appreciate knowing it."

The Chinese shaman shrugged. "You will never know until you try."

"If you say so." She faced him bravely. "Do you love me, or do you love me not, Ren Tao?"

There and then, Ren was rendered speechless.

**:: He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not :: P R O L O G U E**

a Ren/Pirika dedicated to Miko-chan's kapatid and other people who support the said coupling. I'm soon finishing Promises, so I decided to come up with a new AU mini-series. Hope you guys enjoy it! 

- Syaoran no Hime

"Onii-chan, I'm going to school already!" said sixteen-year-old Pirika, giving her brother a quick wave as she slipped her school shoes on.

Horo Horo couldn't reply- he was too busy savoring the juiciness of the tender chicken breast she knew he slaved over in the kitchen this morning. Between the two of them, he was the better cook, and lately, he was getting even better, all thanks to Tamamura Tamao.

"Onii-chan, my allowance!" she screamed on her way out.

This time, her brother took the time to reply. "Lend me ten bucks!"

She looked at her wallet. "Onii-chan, I've got eight bucks only." She gave them all to her brother, and he handed her five. 

"Very well, you owe me a buck, ok?" he said as he pocketed the three bucks.

"OK," she agreed. She dashed out of the makeshift house, sighing. What would she do without her ever-supportive brother who would do anything for her, even sacrificing his money…

She frowned. "Heeey…wait a minute…" There was something wrong with the money deal she and her brother had. She dashed back to her brother. "Onii-chan, I owe you two bucks!!!"

"You skipped your classes yet again, Ren," sighed Jun Tao as she eyed her younger brother warily.

"I was bored. You know that I don't like being chained to a study desk. I want to fight!" insisted Ren, his pointed hair vibrating in annoyance.

Jun rubbed her aching temple. "But I don't want you to become a ragtag martial artist all your life! I know that our wealth is enough to fund your caprices for two lifetimes, but the point is, you won't learn the value of R-E-S-P-O-N-S-I-B-I-L-I-T-Y," said his sister.

"Don't make fun of my spelling prowess!" snapped Ren. "And I am the head of the clan! I can do whatever I want! And I want to not want studying! I want to not want responsibility! Responsibility is for beggars only who can't be choosers," he said through gritted teeth. "I have options. I will not go back to the classroom!"

"I am your elder sister!" snapped Jun, voice rising. "Don't disrespect me by talking that way to me, young man!"

Both Pailong and Ren blinked.

"You will finish high school whether you like it or not," she said.

"But Yoh and the others…what will they say when they learn that I'm still in high school!" he whined.

"You should have thought of that earlier before you wasted all those years." Jun smiled. "Besides, you look every inch a high school student, _literally,_" she said, mouth twitching.

"You just had to pick on my height," said Ren, grumbling. He had dedicated his taste buds to milk and other calcium-rich food in his puberty years, with little success. He wouldn't be surprised if Manta Oyamada would even outgrow him.

"Damn, damn," he muttered. How anticlimactic his situation was after the fateful shaman fight. Nobody knew about how he and his friends risked their lives to keep Hao from destroying the world. And now he was even going back to high school!

"Your classmates won't even know how old you are," cajoled Jun. I would talk to your principal."

When she says she would talk, she would talk money. Saves her the breath.

"Do what you want!" He marched back into his room, followed by Bason.

"Ren, I'm taking you to school _today_," she informed him.

Ren rolled his eyes.

"Master Ren, you know you can't say no to your sister," said Bason.

"I know," said the Tao miserably. "And she knows that too, so she's so confident."

"You didn't say 'no' to her too," smiled the power spirit.

His eyes blazed. "Don't remind me that. It happened years ago already."

"I wonder…what will my master do if they meet again?"

Ren wanted to bite Bason's head off, but decided to save his energy for school today. "Unlikely."

"Who knows?" shrugged the Spirit.

Pailong knocked on the door outside his bedroom. "Master Ren, the car is ready. Jun is waiting for you already."

"Tell her I'm dying!" he yelled. "Tell her that my last will is for her to leave me alone!"

"Ms. Jun told me that she knew you would say that. She told me to ask you to come down so she can drop you to your funeral already!" said the kyoshin.

Bason snickered as Ren seethed some more.

Pirika was biting on her toasted bread she bought in a bakery as she read her English book as she skipped down the sidewalk merrily. She was the best English student in class, the only one who could quickly grasp the grammar lessons well, and she was the star student everytime. She was feeling extra cheerful today because she would be asked to recite a poem in front of the class today that she had memorized by heart already.

"How do I love thee…" She smiled at Elizabeth Barett Browning's poetry and bit on the bread again. She started to fantasize herself as Elizabeth reading her poetry out loud to Robert.

Just as she was about to drift off to her dreamy state, she heard a car engine behind her, and the next thing she knew, she was splattered sideways by mud.

She looked at her drenched uniform. "Aaah!!!" Her eyes crinkled in anger. "Come back here!!!" she yelled at the limousine that accelerated its speed.

"Master Ren, we should have checked on the student we got dirty," said Pailong politely.

"My sister told you to drive, not to argue with me. She asked you to make sure that I won't be late," shrugged Ren.

Bason, on the other hand, looked thoughtful. The girl he saw in the sidewalk looked so oddly familiar.

Pirika hurried into the classroom just as the teacher was about to close the door.

"Ms. Pirika! This was the first time you were late-- what happened to you?" asked the teacher in surprise when she saw the mud on the girl's uniform.

"Some thoughtless driver," she said, bowing. "Gomen, sensei."

"Alright, you are excused. Take the seat behind our new student."

She blinked. "N-New student?" Her eyes roved around the room, and all she saw was familiar faces of her amused classmates looking at her uniform.

Then she noticed a pointed hair. Her heartbeat started to race.

I-It couldn't be… 

The same boy whom she confessed her love to years ago, and had told her to go to hell.

Ren Tao.

**tsuzuku**


	2. Bai zhan Bai sheng

Ren was stunned too – he only knew too well the high-pitched voice coming from the milky-skinned girl with hair as blue as the sunny sky.

Ah, how could he forget the first girl who rattled his mind and his heart by asking straightforwardly how he feels for her?

Even if she had grown gracefully taller and her body had taken a more feminine form, the same unabashedly spirited Ainu woman remained, as evident with her air of confidence and her eyes that weren't afraid to match gaze with his.

He knew she recognized him.

He allowed a smirk to form on his face in return. This enraged the girl some more.

"You may take your seat now-" The teacher was stunned when Pirika suddenly sprang into action. 

Slinging her shoulder bag to her side, she made his way to him and without prelude, punched his face.

Chapter 1: Bai Zhan Bai Sheng

Jun peered at her brother's eye, then smiled. "I think it's healing well."

"She should count herself fortunate that her punch didn't do much damage," grumbled Ren as he touched his bilateral periorbital hematoma. "Or she'll be in big trouble."

"It has been a week since you went home with that black eye-"

"It's bilateral periorbital hematoma," he interjected, his pride unable to accept that when he could defend himself from a hundred kyoshins, a mere girl could injure him like this without so much an effort.

"Right," said his sister, smiling strangely.

"What?" he snapped.

"I was going to say that it has been a week since you got your injury but you still haven't told me why your classmate punched you," she said, smiling.

"It's not funny!" he barked. 

"Hai, hai." But Jun looked like she was losing the battle of keeping a straight face. The thought of her powerful, snobbish little brother getting clouted by a girl was terribly amusing.

"Anyway, you won't get any story from me. It's insignificant anyway." He rubbed his eye again. "It won't ever happen again."

"You must have done something to irk her," she said.

Ren paused, debating whether to tell his sister what transpired between him and his aggressor. In the end, he decided not to. Women could get irritably emotional at the smallest things, plus even if he was her brother and her own flesh and blood, he was sure Jun would take Pirika's side anyway. When men created brotherhood and camaraderie, women were already a step ahead- they built the foundation of universal Girls' Night Out.

"Did you do something sexually insulting to her?" asked Jun, giving him a stern stare.

He rolled his eyes. Even if he wasn't vocal about it, he has high esteem for women's honor. The descendants of Eve may be irritating and bothersome nuisances in life, but he has a sister, and it was enough for him to make him pay proper respect to women.

Her face relaxed into a smile. She patted his hair. "I would like to meet that spunky girl one of these days."

He gave her a saccharine sweet smile. "I would rather shave my head."

"Wow, lately, you have been eating a lot," remarked Horo Horo as he watched his sister devour the usual egg-rice-milk breakfast he cooked for her.

"I need all the energy I can get, onii-chan," she explained in between bites. "Soldiers who go to the battlefield on an empty stomach will not survive!"

He whistled. "I didn't know we're going to a war. Against whom?"

She shook her head vehemently. "This is my battle alone, onii-chan! And I will emerge as the victor!"

He examined her, then touched her forehead. "Your temperature's fine, so what's wrong with you then? I've never seen you act like this. Who's the enemy?"

She looked at him, deliberating whether to tell her big brother about Ren Tao. In the end, she decided not to. The two may be friends, but they were fiercely competitive with each other. Their own desires to defeat Yoh didn't make things easier either. Besides, she knew she was perfectly capable of handling her battles all by herself. She wasn't born as Horo Horo's little sister for nothing. 

"I'll tell you when I know that I need help already," she said instead.

He smiled. "Just don't forget that no matter what, Onii-chan is your biggest fan and your staunchest supporter. I will defend you against anyone or anything, just give me the date and location."

She gave him a thumbs-up. "I know, and I am grateful for that, Onii-chan. You're the best!" She decided to shift the topic away from her already- she wasn't used to lying to her brother, and she knew that the danger of Ren's name slipping out of her mouth was very possible. "So how is Tamao nee-chan?"

He shrugged, "She's doing well."

"Iie! You know what I mean!"

"I don't, actually."

"Have you started your moves on her already?" she asked.

He groaned. "Her mind is composed of the same stuff the Dead Sea is made of. Penetrating it would take awhile."

"Work faster," she urged him. "You may never know if another guy lays his eyes on her."

"Unlikely," he said, grinning. The men in the Asakura house are Yoh, Master Yohmei, and Master Mikihisa only. The two other options are out already, Yoh even more so. He's crazy about that sadistic itako."

"We will never know," she said thoughtfully. "Destiny has this senseless sense of humor."

In her mind, she added, _who would have known that Ren Tao and I would meet again?_

Silently, she wondered if he stillremembered her confession. When she remembered how he smirked, she deduced that he must still do.

Only one word echoed in her mind because of that.

R-E-V-E-N-G-E.

For the shame he made her feel for flatly insulting her love for him.

And for ruining her one and only set of school uniform.

She remembered that she was almost in the same situation where her favorite manga shoujo was- she was going to fight against a man with unspeakable power.

And that gave her another idea.

Ren was rummaging through his locker when his eye caught a piece of red paper inserted hurriedly in the hinge of his locker door. He took it, and to his surprise, it was a red car that simply said, "The war is on".

He turned to his right and found Pirika standing near him, watching him.

"What is this gimmick all about?" he asked.

Her eye turned to his black eye first. A satisfied smile crawled to her face.

"I said, what is this red card about?" he repeated through gritted teeth. Once again he remembered the fleeting passage of time. The girl who used to adore him so, the girl who reminded him of a mouse that when barked at would flee in fright- she was now a cat. Cute but cunning.

"I'm staging a war against you," she explained. "I'm taking revenge on you, for what you did to me years ago."

"You haven't forgotten that yet?" he asked, smirking. "I'm flattered."

She narrowed her eyes at him, and he hated to admit it, but she was literally looking down at him. The tip of his pointed hair barely reached the top of her head. "Don't be. None of my stupid schoolgirl infatuation remains here." She pointed to her heart. "Only hate."

"So what is your battle plan then?" he asked curiously despite of himself.

She smiled insincerely, making him worry a little on the high calorie content of her sugary smile and how it could kill anyone easily. "I will make you cry, Ren Tao."

He snickered. "That's a tall order."

"Not for me," she said, shrugging. Her eyes roved on his vertical form once again, and he realized the felony he made by his last statement. He scowled. "You talk too much. Let's see if you succeed." He turned his back on her, aware of the amused gazes their classmates were throwing them. An idea formed in his mind.

"Our class is assigned to stage a play for the school," announced the teacher. "And since Pirika is our best student in English class, she will be the director."

Pirika smiled shyly as her classmates heartily congratulated her. She turned to Ren expectantly, but discovered that he was looking out at the window, a living lexicographical representation of the word _boredom._

"Now what play do you suggest, Pirika?" asked the sensei eagerly.

Eyes set on Ren, she stood up. "Thumbelina."

When Pirika opened her locker that afternoon, she found a red card in her locker too. She picked it up- it looked exactly like the red card she received, but there were four Chinese characters in it.

"Bai zhen Bai sheng," said Ren, arms crossed. "That is my motto…to be ever-victorious. You have tested my patience long enough, and it's time to teach you a lesson- and that is not to cross my path. You staged a war, and I'll win it."

"This is the thanks I get for making you the lead star in the stage play?" she asked, crumpling the red piece of paper.

His face darkened when he remembered how she humiliated him in the classroom awhile ago. "That is the last time you'll get away with making a fool out of me. You have my word." He turned his back on her abruptly.

Pirika clenched her fists, crumpling the card some more. "I'm not scared. I'm not the girl he can intimidate years ago. I'm stronger now." She watched his retreating figure. "You'll see."

**tsuzuku**


	3. My Oneesan

"Ren, where did you put your face towel?" asked Jun as she rummaged through her brother's things.

"I don't know! Just look for it in my bag!" yelled Ren, who was in the gym, working out.

Jun lifted one notebook up, and to her surprise, a red card fluttered down the floor. Curious, she read the card. A smile found itself to her pursed lips.

"So did you see it-" Ren entered his room just in time to see his sister put down the red card on the bed.

Jun blinked, then smiled. "I didn't, but I found something else."

The Tao felt colors rush to his face. "God no…"

**Chapter 2: My Onee-san **

It was Saturday, meaning, free day for her.

Meaning, Tamao would come over.

Meaning, her onii-chan would try once again and fail in asking Tamamura Tamao out.

She smiled as she heard her brother and her future sister-in-law doing some cooking sessions in the makeshift kitchen. She shifted from her seat by the gnarled roots of a nearby tree, adjusting her notepad as well. She was brainstorming some ideas for her ThumbeRena play project. She still had no concrete ideas unfortunately, because she kept on getting distracted by her brother's stammers, evidence of his want-to-but-can't-do frustration with Tamao nee-san.

"…so you have to wait until it becomes golden brown," Tamao was saying.

Pirika sat up and stole a glance at the scene. Horo Horo was hovering behind the girl's shoulders, busying himself in staring at Tamao's nape. She sighed.

"Smell the aroma," said the oblivious Tamao. "Mmm!"

"Mmm!" agreed Horo, who was taking in the fragrance of Tamao's hair.

Pirika slapped her hand on her forehead, muttering. She stood up, marched towards the two, then grabbed her brother's shirt. She dragged him away. "Excuse us for a while, Tamao," she said.

The pink-haired girl smiled, then turned her attention back at the food.

When they were out of earshot, Pirika slammed her note pad on her brother's head. "Onii-chan no baka!"

"What did I do now?" he cried, rubbing his head.

"Onii-chan, when are you planning to tell her your feelings?" she hissed.

"Er…I'm working on it…"

"No, you aren't!" She patted his shoulders. "Listen, onii-chan, if you really like her, if you really, _really_ like her, make your move now. Trust me, girls like Tamao nee-chan are the kind of girls that men would want as a wife. While you still don't have a rival, grab your chance and court her!"

He messed her hair fondly. "I know that, Pirika. Don't worry, I'll do that." He flexed his muscles. "Watch your onii-chan work his magic and charms on her." He strode proudly towards the girl.

She cupped her hands, shining. _Onii-chan, you can do it! Go, onii-chan!_

"Tamao!" he called loudly.

She turned to him, smiling. "Yes Horo Horo?"

Horo suddenly froze, his heart caught off guard once again by her lovely, bewitching smile. "Ta…Tamao…"

"Hai?" she asked.

He began to sweat nervously. "Er…Tamao…"

Pirika wanted to bang her head on the tree, but decided not to; frustrations with brothers wasn't valid enough a reason to get her head injured.

"Tamao…"

"Horo Horo, what is it? Are you feeling ill?" she asked worriedly, touching his forehead. "Your face is all red!"

"It is?" he squeaked, blushing even more when her fingers touched his skin.

Pirika rolled her eyes, then marched away. And he wanted to become a shaman king? He couldn't even be brave enough to confess his feelings!

She then remembered what happened to her – when she became too brave by confessing her feelings too.

She shut her eyes. No, she wanted to forget it already!

But it was just like throwing Ryu out of Lyserg's room; the Wooden Sword wouldn't stop beating on the door, demanding to be let in.

Ren's memories were like that- no matter how hard she tries to shut him out, they kept on banging on her mind's doors, screaming to be noticed.

Especially now that he became her classmate.

She can't _not_ notice him anymore.

"Why would a girl be staging a war against my little brother?" mused Jun aloud as she and Ren were driven around in the limousine by Pailong.

Ren crossed his arms. "Shut up. Why did you read something so private anyway?"

"You should have kept it in a safer place," she said, laughing. "And I remember that you asked me to be the one to look for your face towel because you can't get your butt out of the gym."

The Tao groaned. If he could only turn back the time, then he would be the one to rummage in his things. Then he wouldn't have to endure her merciless teasing. He silently vowed to be more industrious, and not to let other people do jobs that he was capable of doing.

"Oh come on, I'm your onee-san. You can tell me anything," she coaxed, jabbing him with her elbow. A conspiratorial smile was pasted on her pretty face. "I won't tell Father, you have my word."

"You won't get anything from me, I'm telling you," he said, sighing.

"Why are you keeping her a secret anyway?" she asked. "Is she that important to you?"

Ren shut his eyes and inhaled deeply. He counted up to ten, wanting not only to calm the surge of irritation rising within him, but also the strange feelings that the mere thought of the Ainu loudmouth was stirring within him.

After awhile, he opened his eyes. "No, onee-san. She means nothing to me."

"What took you so long to reply then?" asked Jun, eyes twinkling.

"Because I was choosing the best words that could deliver my message briefly but clearly," he said through gritted teeth. "OK, end of conversation."

Jun giggled, then winked at Pailong, who smiled back, amused.

"So where are we going anyway?" asked Ren after awhile.

"Actually, I'm picking up the outfit I bought especially for Pailong." She smiled at the bodyguard. "It's his birthday next week, and I'm giving it to him as an advance birthday gift."

Ren groaned. "And you're taking me along with you? What have I got to do with this trip then?"

Jun smiled. "I just want to spend more time with my little bro, that's all."

He looked surprised. "I'm always with you."

"I know, but I have a feeling that time will come when I will have to share that number one spot in your heart with some other girl soon," she laughed. "And so, while I still have your whole, undivided affection, I will make the best out of it and enjoy it."

His forehead creased. "And what do you mean by that?" 

"Nothing-" Jun suddenly was thrown forward, but Ren was able to hold her back before she hit herself on the front seat. The boy angrily turned to the driver. "Pailong, what the hell do you think are you doing?!!!"

"Master Ren, a girl suddenly crossed the road, and I had to avoid her," explained Pailong apologetically, pointing to a figure sitting on the road.

Ren's fists clenched. He got out of the car furiously.

Pirika clutched her chest, breathing panickedly. She nearly got ran over!

"Damn it, you _again_?!" yelled a familiar voice.

She looked up and faced the very furious face of Ren Tao. "What are you doing here?" she snapped.

"Idiot! Who do you think you are, crossing the road without looking at your left and right?" he yelled.

Her blood boiled. She stood up, suddenly forgetting that a four-wheeled one ton something vehicle nearly ran her over. "Well, excuuuuse me, Your Highness, but this road happens to be a public property. You have no right to interrogate me like that!"

He rubbed his face with his hands, looking very, very annoyed. "God, your brain is worse than an idle ice cream machine in Antarctica. Look, if you want to commit suicide, fine, do it. It will help lessen the population explosion problem we now have. But don't do it with the help of our car- we don't want to be the one to pay for your funeral bills."

Pirika's eyebrow shot up. "So that was your car that nearly ran me over!" she threw his limousine an uninterested look, then back at Ren. "Well Mister Wheels, just because you have posh cars doesn't mean you can go and drive them around irresponsibly. Instead of telling me to check my left and right, why don't you ask your driver to do the same too? Reorient him again with the left and the right…or is he as dumb as you?" She looked down at her nails, ignoring the slowly seething Ren. "People with minds like yours are a menace not only to pedestrians but to the entire human race." 

"Damn you!" Ren clenched his fists. "If you weren't a girl, I could have long kicked your ass."

Pirika smiled sarcastically. "Then do it. Or will you wait for me to do it?" She eyed him mockingly. "It will be easy. Your brain is closer to your ass anyway."

"Why you-" Ren wanted to take his spear out but Bason suddenly appeared. "M-Master Ren, don't. Mistress Jun is here!"

"I_do_not_care, Bason! I'm going to show her how well I can kick-" Ren was interrupted by a slam on his head. Jun was standing beside him, frowning on her little brother.

"Ren Tao! How dare you talk so roughly to a beautiful young lady like her?" she said disapprovingly.

"L-Lady?!" spat the boy out. "Even if she's the last girl in the world, I will never call her a lady! I'll demand a recount!"

Another slam on his head made him shut up. Jun smiled down at the girl. "Hello! Have we met before?"

Pirika smiled. "I think we have. In the shaman fight, in Patch Village?"

Jun nodded. "You're Horo Horo's little sister." She held out her hand at the stunned girl. "I hope you still remember me. I'm Ren's elder sister."

The Ainu shyly accepted her hand. "J-Jun Tao?"

"Right." Jun turned to her brother again, scowling. "Ren, she's Horo Horo's younger sister. How dare you treat her like that!"

Ren groaned. "She's also a pest."

Pirika placed her hands on her hips. "Oh really? A pest, huh?" She turned to Jun. "Oh, I'm personally inviting you to our class play happening very soon. Ren Tao will be in it."

Jun's eyes lit up. "Really?"

Ren's eyes panicked. "Wait a minute-"

"Yes! As a matter of fact, he's the star! Our play is called-"

Ren managed to cover her mouth just in the nick of time. "A secret, onee-san."

Jun looked at him, amused. "Oh, alright." She turned to Pirika. "Nice meeting you again."

"Mrmph hrmph," replied the girl, then stomped on the boy's foot. This made him release his hold on her mouth. She glared at Ren. "Don't you ever do that again!"

"I'll just check on Pailong," she said before gracefully returning to the limousine.

Pirika's eyes followed Jun, then went back at Ren who was glaring at her. If looks could kill, her mouth was long foaming already.

"Thank your nice sister that she's here, or I could have stomped on something else in your body," she said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Thank her too because I could have sliced you to smithereens already if not for her presence," he shot back. He started to go back to the car. "Stop following me already, will you?"

Her eyes widened. The nerve! "I'm not following you, Lilliputian egomaniac! Maybe it's the other way around!"

"Why will I waste my time on you?" he asked, smirking. "You're not as special as you think."

She wanted to scream bloody hell. Her temples were close to explosion. She quickly calmed herself. Horo Horo taught her something golden, and she was going to use it now.

It takes forty-three muscles to frown and only three to raise a middle finger.

And Ren's reaction when she did so was delightful. A classic. 

She turned her back on him triumphantly. She now found the inspiration she needed for ThumbeRena.

"Revenge is sweet," she said in evil glee.

**tsuzuku**


	4. Onshuu

Within the flower, upon the green velvet stamens, sat a very delicate and graceful little maiden. She was scarcely half as long as a thumb, so they gave her the name of ThumbeRena.

How much more sick can the good old woman get?

Pirika smirked as she read the sentences she had so far for the play.

Chapter 3: Onshuu (Love and Hate)

_Note: I know Pilica is the correct name for our heroine, dakedo, I'm used to spelling it out as Pirika (w/c is how our local dubber pronounce it). Gomen ne! _

Ren Tao slammed the script down on Pirika's desk, face distorted in a look short of homicidal.

"Yes?" she asked, not lifting her eyes to gaze at him.

"What kind of garbage is this?" he snapped, glaring at her pad paper as if it was an Anti-Christ document. Fortunately, his eyes weren't capable of incineration, or her script could have burst into flames already.

She closed her English book calmly and smiled languidly. "It's our school play. Our teacher has approved of my script."

"Oh yeah?" he snapped. "Well, I don't."

"Ah, I don't care if you approve or not. You're not the one giving my English class grades." She cupped her face. "Besides, what are you complaining about in your role?"

"It calls for me to act all girly here!" he yelled, making the heads of their classmates turn to them.

Pirika smiled. "So?'

He looked at her as if she just asked why sugar is sweet and salt isn't. "I can't do it!"

"You can; you just don't want to." She crossed her arms. "This is a play, Ren Tao. You have to cooperate, or the whole class will fail in English class."

"Great. So you're going to use some kind of a blackmail on me now, huh?" Ren sighed sharply. "Well, I do NOT care. You will never make me take this role!"

"Never?" she asked, her tone rising challengingly.

Inspite of himself, he suddenly began to be cautious with his words. "What do you have in mind?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"If you don't agree to play the role I made especially for you…" She smiled sweetly. "I'll tell them that I am your girlfriend."

Ren's eyes widened, but the next second, they narrowed. "You're _that_ desperate?"

"I worked hard on that script, Ren Tao, and I don't want my efforts and the efforts of my classmates to go waste simply because you are too much of a brat to accept a perfectly decent role."

Ren snorted. "Look, I'm not going to play a prince or a mage or even an antagonist here. I'm going to be a delicate…" He glanced at the frigging script. His face contorted in distaste. "…and graceful little maiden. Pirika, for the love of my dog, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know how unfitted I am for that role."

Pirika clicked her tongue. "Ren Tao, a personality like yours is a much better actor for roles like those. It makes it livelier. People are used to Thumbelina being female. They would love it if this time around, we use a male, and a snobbish-looking one like you." She sighed. "Anyway, why are you arguing with me? I am the director, and you are just an actor."

"I won't participate in the play!" he yelled.

"Good! Then I'll tell them about us-"

Ren did a double take. "I'm not calling your bluff," he said after a few minutes of silent pondering.

"If that is what you think." She stood up and looked at his face purposefully. "I'm going to hug you in front of everyone," she informed him as she stepped closer to him. She fought back a giggle when she saw that Ren was starting to get a little nervous- he started to take a step back away from her.

"No, you won't," he said, but his confidence a bit less than awhile ago.

"Oh yes, I will." She took another step, bringing herself closer to him. There was only one more step left, then they would be cheek-to-cheek. She didn't know if she was going to finish the dare she started.

Fortunately, Ren gave in. "Step back already," he growled. "I'll take that damn role already."

 Her face blossomed into a full smile. "Arigato!" She took the script he earlier placed on the desk and handed it to him. "Here. Memorize all your lines already. The practice will start tomorrow afternoon, after our classes."

"Oh! I could not bear to think of living with the old toad, and having her ugly son for a husband. Alas, poor me! Poor, poor me!"

Jun did a double take when he heard the high-pitched voice coming from her brother's room. Curious, she decided to take a peek.

Ren was emoting in front of the mirror, fist outstretched in full passion. "Most pretty flowers of the fields, please tell me which way to go! I must escape from-" He paused when he saw his sister's reflection on the mirror. His face suddenly reddened. "Onee-san!!!"

Jun burst into laughter as she entered her brother's room. "I'm sorry for disturbing your rehearsal, Ren."

The colors had not yet died down from the boy's face. Damn him again for not locking doors!

"You were great back then," said Jun, smiling at him.

"Shut up."

"So what is the play about anyway?" she wanted to know.

Ren eyed her warily. "I'll tell you if you promise not to laugh."

"I promise," she said quickly.

He sighed, then said, "ThumbeRena."

To his dismay, his sister's hysterical laughter echoed all over the room. So much for promises.

"What are you so busy writing, Pirika?" asked Horo Horo as he watched his sister pen down some lines on an expensive-looking paper.

"Invitations," she said simply.

"For what?"

"Our school play," she replied, not looking up from her work. "I'm inviting Yoh and the others to watch it."

"Why are you making such a big deal on the coming play anyway? You always have a part on it," asked Horo.

"This time around, I'm directing it," she said proudly. "And I've got the reins on the story flow, especially on the character actors."

"Really? So what is the play all about?" asked her brother.

She smiled sweetly. "You'll know it at the same time that the audience will do- on the day of the play itself."

"Oh, alright." Horo grinned and rolled on to the other side of the sleeping case. "Goodnight, Pirika. Don't stay up too late."

"Hai!" she smiled at him, then continued writing the invitations. She would be sending them tomorrow.

"I told you not to laugh," said Ren crossly as his sister hiccupped. Her laughter had died down, but she was still smiling.

"Gomen," she managed to choke out.

"I'm not going through this torture anymore!" decided the boy as he threw the script on the floor, then crossed his arms defiantly.

Jun picked up the pieces of paper and eyed them. "These are handwritten!"

 "So?" asked the younger Tao.

"Pirika is also the scriptwriter, isn't she?" asked Jun. "She must have worked very hard on these, Ren. If you back out, I'm sure that the other members of the play would lose interest on the play too and back out too. all her efforts then would be for vain."

"Not my problem," he said arrogantly.

"But it will be Pirika's problem, since as the director of the play, she'll also be the over-all in charge for the project. If it doesn't pull through, she would be the biggest person to blame because she wasn't able to do anything about the conflict." The young woman smiled. "So if you and Pirika have differences, do not involve the school play anymore. Other students will be affected too, you know."

"And you want me to believe that she thought of the ThumbeRena play coincidentally?" he asked sarcastically.

"What if she did?" challenged his sister.

He fell silent.

"And if she ever did what you thought, would you also stoop to her level by ruining a group play?" she asked, eyeing him carefully.

Well then, if his sister puts it _that_ way…

"Fine!" He swapped the script back and began to read through the lines once more. "I'm going back to rehearsing my lines, but get out of my room, will you?"

She smiled and nodded. "Good luck!"

"OK people, places!!!" called Pirika the next afternoon. She glanced at Ren who was sitting a little far from the other casts. He was seated behind a tree, reading his script.

She had to smile. She was glad that Ren was starting to take this seriously.

"Now for the first scene, we have to rehearse the part when the woman found ThumbeRena. The woman will do a voice-over in the real stage, because she is suppose to be larger than ThumbeRena." She looked at Ren. "ThumbeRena, it's your scene already!"

He glared at her as he walked towards them. She smiled sweetly in response.

"Now, you will pretend to be looking up in the air, talking to the old woman." She gestured to the cherry tree in front of him. "Look up at its branches and visualize that as your old woman."

He shook his head. "Hideous."

"Oh shut up. OK, lights, camera, ACTION!!!"

The girl taking the role of the old woman began to speak. "O-Oh. W-What a beau…beautiful f-flower, and…a-alas, w-what's t-this?" Her face turned pink when she felt Ren Tao's glare at her.

Pirika sighed. She knew giving the role of ThumbeRena's foster mother to her classmate who's got a killer crush on Ren was a big, fat mistake. But then, who else would take the role of the old woman, when ninety-nine percent of the female population in the class was infatuated with the arrogant Chinese shaman?

"Cut!' She took the script from the girl and went to the tree where Ren was suppose to look up at. She began to climb the tree.

"W-What are you doing?" asked her classmates, looking at the Ainu girl in fascination. 

"I'm going to teach our classmate the right intonation for the old woman, and at the same time, I'll help Ren Tao internalize my instructions for this scene." She turned to Ren. "Remember to look at me when you're speaking. Even if we do the real thing in the stage already, remember to look up at this angle, ok?" 

Ren had difficulty nodding, because he wanted to avert his gaze at the long, creamy legs shown by the short hem of her skirt. But when he saw that his fellow male classmates were gawking at her legs too, he angrily marched towards her and took off his top. Ignoring the mixed scandalized and fascinated looks from his female classmates, he threw her his coat. 

"Cover your legs!" he yelled.

Pirika blinked, then realized he was right. But she wasn't about to let him know how grateful she was. "Thanks for the concern! You don't expect me to wear it, do you?" She could picture out his top reaching just some inches below her chest.

To her amusement, he suddenly looked indignant. "Shut up! Put that on your lap."

She grinned, did as told,  then sat down on the lower branch and read the script in an old woman's voice.

Ren, on the other hand, still couldn't forget the protective instinct that came over him all of a sudden when he was confronted by the fact that other men were ogling at her flesh.

This is all her fault anyway. Why did she have to sit up there where she knows everyone can see her body?

His heart replied that Pirika was innocent, and had no malice yet on such things.

"ThumbeRena!" yelled Pirika, hands on her hips. "Pay attention to the practice, will you?"

He scowled. "Alright!" He ignored the snickers from his classmates.

The sun was going down when Pirika decided to call it a day. 

"See you tomorrow!" she greeted as her classmates waved goodbye.

"Aren't you going down from the tree yet?" asked one of her classmates.

"Later. This place has a nice view." She smiled at him and waved. She turned her attention once again to watch the sunset.

Her eyes softened when the yellow-orange color bathed her face. She took a mental note of this, so she could describe it later to the man in charge of the stage lights.

Ren was about to go home when he remembered that Pirika had his top. He was about to go to her and ask her about it when he saw that she was too busy looking out at the sunset.  He decided to not disturb her for awhile and just to watch her watching something else.

He was a little surprised by how he suddenly felt peaceful, his eyes on the serene, unaware beauty of the Ainu little girl.

Must be the sunset. Yeah, that must be it.

Pirika blinked when she felt that Ren was beside the tree where she was sitting down. "W-What are you doing down there? Y-You're…" Her eyes widened. "You're peeping on me, you perverted dwarf!"

His eyes blazed. "Nani?!!! Why should I…why would I…gah, you're not worth to be peeped on!"

Her blood boiled. "What did you say?!!!" She prepared to step down on the branch underneath her so she could jump down when it suddenly broke. She leaped back to her place just in time before the branch fell.

"Wha-" Pirika panicked. "It was too high to jump from her place. She looked around desperately for any other branch to jump down on, but found none.

Ren seemed to sense her problem, basing on the smirk on his face.

"What will you do now, Princess?" he asked with a sneer.

She weighed her options- stay in the tree for the night, wait for her brother to come looking for her (unlikely, she knew), ask Ren kindly to get the janitor to help her come down (unlikelier), or break her bones by jumping down.

The last option was the only one she could live with. She shut her eyes and was about to jump down when Ren's harsh voice snapped at her.

"Give me your hand," he ordered.

She opened her eyes and found Ren sitting beside her, his brows furrowed. 

"No way!"

"Yes way!" He grabbed her hand, and without prelude, pulled her down along with him.

Pirika screamed, and the next thing she knew, she landed safely on the ground, Ren's arms supporting her tiny waist.

"We made it," she said breathlessly.

"Yup, we did," he agreed.

Pirika shivered when she realized that his breath was a bit _too_ close to her ears. She turned to him, and realized why. His face was inches away from hers, and he was panting heavily.

She wanted to scream "Pervert!" at the top of her lungs, but it seemed that her larynx had disappeared. His intense gaze must have melted it already.

She managed to put her hands on his chest and give him a weak push. "T-Thanks."

His eyes flickered with something unreadable for a moment, then he pulled away. "O-OK."

When he helped her up, she forced a smirk on her face. "Thanks for saving me, Superman. I didn't expect that at all."

"Shut up," he grumbled, silently grateful that the darkness was enough to cover his reddening face.

That night, Pirika was sleepless. Her notepad was poised above her knee, but it was blank. All she could think about was the intimate contact between her and Ren awhile ago.

She sighed. "Pirika, only hate. Only hate. Only hate, do you understand, girl?" she kept on telling herself over and over. "He's a pig through and through. He's too short, and his ego is too big. He's not worth a second look. He's garbage, Pirika."

She silently vowed to repeat that mantra the next time she sees Ren Tao. She was over him already, right?

She paused, then groaned. She remembered once more how nice it felt when his breath fanned her face.

It must be the toothpaste. Yeah, that was all to it.


	5. All About Ai

Pirika was idly listening to the Love Hour program of the radio as she scribbled some last-minute details on what the stage would need. She didn't really like the sappy mush of the program, but with a radio like theirs that could only get one station clearly, she must endure. Besides, it couldn't be worse than the sound of her brother snoring the day again as usual.

"Mr. DJ, my boyfriend and I just broke up," said the first caller. "I don't think I can take this anymore. How do I live without him?"

Pirika rolled her eyes. "Just keep breathing, and you'll get along fine," she muttered as the DJ started yet again to spout the clichés of moving on.

"Mr. DJ, I think I'm in love with the son of our family's arch nemesis," said one caller. "He hates me so, but I can't stop loving him. What should I do?"

For some reason, the word _hate_ caught her attention, and she found herself listening expectantly to what the DJ would say.

"Go on a wait-and-see situation and try to gauge his feelings. Who knows? Maybe he feels something for you too. They always say that the more you hate, the more you love," said the disk jockey.

Pirika rolled her eyes yet again. "If that is how life works, Hao Asakura wouldn't have existed in the first place."

She looked down at her pad, exasperated.

"Love stinks."

Chapter 4: All About _Ai_

Jun and Pailong watched as Ren trudged on the treadmill, holding his script folder. For the last four days, all Ren had been doing was memorizing his lines in the script. Even when he was taking breaks from his shaman training sessions, his nose would always be on the script.

"I'm glad he's taking the play more seriously," said Jun happily. "I knew sending him to high school wasn't such a bad idea."

Pailong nodded. "He may not say it out loud, but he looks pretty excited about the presentation. It's a week from now, right?"

His mistress nodded. "And we're going to watch him." She smiled at her bodyguard. "It's a date, ok?"

He blushed faintly. "Jun…" He smiled. "Oh, alright."

Bason watched as his master muttered the lines under his breath, "Why don't you say the lines out loud, Master? Just so you can have a better feel on your lines."

"Shut up! Don't act like a know-it-all because I know what I'm doing." Ren looked at his lines in the scene when the mole was courting him. Once again, it was too disgustingly cute and sweet, and he knew that this was more than a coincidence. Just like what Horo always say, never trust the principle of coincidence.

"As you wish." The power spirit maintained his silence once again.

"Pirika is really mad at me," he muttered. "All of Thumberena's lines are rubbish!"

"Personally, I think you did great. You can be a dubber already!" said Bason loyally.

However, what the spirit said didn't help his master. Ren was still muttering.

"I'm sure that by sun down, you have already memorized the lines in that scene," said Bason cheerfully.

Sun down. Ren suddenly remembered what transpired between him and Pirika yesterday late afternoon. It was the first time that he had been that intimately close to her, and for some reason he still couldn't pinpoint, her presence stirred something within him in so many ways unexplainable.

He hated her now even more, because she was doing it again to him. It was bad enough what she did to him years ago, when she confessed to him all of a sudden that she loved him dearly- that he was her favorite person in the world, in the same level her brother was.

How many weeks passed before he was able to forget that incident? Even when she and Horo Horo left a month after, his heart was never the same again.

"Master Ren, look out!" yelped his power spirit.

"What now, Ba-" Ren's face slammed on the moving floor of the treadmill. He was so immersed in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed that he had stopped walking already and had fallen off the exercise machine.

"Master, are you alright?" asked Bason, hovering beside him worriedly.

Irritated, he wiped his face with his towel. "I fell down from the treadmill, slammed my face on it, and is now in danger of internal hemorrhage. Does that answer your question?"

The spirit blinked. "I suppose." He scratched his cheek. "Are you hurt, Master?"

Ren's hair vibrated.

"Bason, what are you doing up there?" asked Jun when she saw the power spirit hanging upside down on the handbars of the stationary bike.

"Mistress Jun, good afternoon!" greeted Bason weakly, perhaps from being hung on his toes for the last three hours.

Jun sighed. "Did you do something to anger my brother? You should know better than that. He is in dire need of anger management and sensitivity workshops, you know."

Pailong sighed. "Good thing for me that Jun isn't like that when she's mad. Oh wait, she never gets mad."

Bason wailed. "Waaah! Even if my Master Ren is like that, I still love him dearly!"

The Tao giggled. "Ssh! Father might hear you!"

The next day, the group wrapped up rehearsing the four important scenes of the play.

Pirika clapped her hands. "Listen, all we need to do now is to practice the finale, where Ren, I mean Thumberena," she amended when the Tao shot her a lethal look. " Meets the Flower Prince and they all dance."

Ren rolled his eyes. "Do we have to practice that?"

"Of course!" exclaimed Pirika huffily, as if he just asked whether the word cat has two Gs or three. "It's the finale, and our ending should have impact! Something that would make the audience remember our play for a long, long time."

Ren groaned, then glanced at the Flower Prince, played by the biggest braggart in the class. He forgot his name though- he didn't care to pay attention to attendance rollcall except when it was his name being called.

"Ah, don't worry! With me in the scene, we undoubtedly will deliver the impact you want, Classmate Pirika," said Mr. Braggart, smiling charmingly at Pirika.

Ren stared hard at the boy's nose, willing it to bend or crack or fall off. Beside him, Bason could sense his master's temper starting to boil.

"It is a group effort," said the director, smiling politely. The Tao rolled his eyes- how could she maintain being civil to him? How come when it comes to him, he could see no trace of her restraint?

Mr. Braggart turned to him. "Ready to dance?"

_Actually, I'm ready to punch your nose into gory pieces of trash. _Ren though, chose not to speak up. He merely followed him to the center of the stage as Pirika signaled the soundsman.

"OK, and action!" shouted Pirika, just in time with the happy waltz that resounded in the sound system.

"One, two, three, four! One, two, three, four! One, two, one two!" she yelled over the music.

Ren smirked when Mr. Braggart suddenly screamed in pain. He had been stepping on Flower Prince' foot for ten counts already. He suddenly wished he had worn military combat shoes for today. He smirked at his snickering power spirit.

"If you can't squish the nose, squish the foot," laughed Bason.

"Ren Tao!" shrieked Pirika, making the music stop.

Ren looked at her. "What do you want?"

"I was watching you. You were messing up deliberately!" She placed her hands on her hips. "Whether you want it or not, the dance scene can't be removed from the script. Now please save us the grief and do your dance steps right!"

Ren scowled as Bason cringed. He knew his young master since childhood- he was never yelled at by any other woman except for the two prominent ones in his life, his sister and his mother. The rest of the female species were afraid of him.

"I don't know how to dance!" said Ren instead.

Pirika looked at him skeptically, then marched towards Mr. Flower Prince. "Watch me, ok?" She held her hand out to Mr.-Ego-Has-Landed, who took it eagerly. Ren's face turned dark- he was not only cocky, he was perverted too.

"One two three four, one two three four," counted Pirika, swaying gracefully along with her partner.

Everyone watched, awestruck. The two danced beautifully, as if they were a scene from a ballroom dance floor. The soundsman took the cue and began to play the music. The back-up dancers sprung to life too and began their choreographed movements too.

Ren watched from the sidelines, his fists clenching. He wasn't liking what he was seeing- especially the way Mr. Braggart's hands were laid possessively on Pirika's waist.

Bason watched in awe when Ren suddenly marched towards Pirika and pulled her out of the Flower Prince's grasp.

"Wha-" Pirika could feel everyone's eyes on the three of them.

"I can't stand to watch…I don't want to just watch." His movement was swift- in a second, it was his arms around her waist.

Pirika was stunned by what he suddenly did. "R-Ren, um, I'm suppose to be the one to hold your waist-"

"Shut up," he hissed as his feet started to sway with the waltz. The people stopped dancing and contented themselves in watching the two.

She started to dance along too- and she suddenly felt how light her body felt in his arms. He made her dance in a way no man ever made her want to- awhile ago, she danced to go with the movement of her partner. But with Ren, she felt that she was dancing because she wanted to be one with him.

She looked at him and realized that as she stared at his suddenly warm and open eyes, she was being transported back to the time when she adored him secretly- cheering for him in his matches in the Patch Village, watching him train unceasingly on his own, gazing at him in every opportunity he wasn't aware.

She was brought back to reality when something crashed down. She blinked, and Ren did too. It was the soundsman, who was rubbing his head sheepishly. The radio fell from the table.

Pirika felt everyone's eyes on her and Ren- some amused, some surprised, some jealous, some teasing. She cleared her throat, embarrassed. "O-OK, I think Ren got it."

"We think so too," said the propsman, grinning wickedly.

The director chose to ignore the crack. "S-So see you guys tomorrow." She glanced at Ren. "Your lines, don't forget them."

He nodded curtly. "I won't."

Pirika sighed, kicking herself mentally. "And where did all my _Hate-Ren-Like-Hell _mantra go?" She picked her book bag up, groaning.

"I'm afraid to fall in love. I've been hurt before and I've learned my lesson, but my heart won't obey me. What do you think?" asked the caller when Pirika was listening to the radio again that night.

The DJ laughed. "While it may be true that a woman's heart should know better than to give itself so easily, it is also true that the most important thing in the world is knowing what the heart knows after it surrendered itself to another."

And that made Pirika think.

Had she regretted falling for Ren Tao then and rekindling the feelings little by little right now?

She couldn't say that, based on what she was feeling.

Ah, she still had so much to learn about love.

tsuzuku


	6. Unforgotten

"Kawaii!" gushed twelve-year-old Pirika as she chased the _hotarubi_ amidst the moonless night. She had been wandering in the clearing near their inn in the Patch Village, looking for her brother (who undoubtedly was forewarned of her arrival and had now gone into hiding) when she noticed the fireglow by the river. Immediately, she was drawn to the almost surreal emerald glow of the insects, and had followed them happily.

She took a step back when she saw the insects stop. Her eyes crinkled into a smile as her eyes followed the pretty glows appreciatively.

Footsteps suddenly startled the serenity of the place, prompting the fireflies to go away.

"M-Matte!" Pirika tried to catch up with them, but she suddenly slid off balance on the pebbled ground. She fell down on all fours, scratching her knee.

She inspected her stinging bruise- nothing an isopropyl alcohol couldn't treat, but nevertheless, it still hurts. She was about to wipe it when she heard someone speak behind her. 

"So you were the noisy creature bothering my training." His head covered the starry skies, but even in the darkness, she recognized him. How couldn't she? His arrogant voice, his sexy perspiring scent that mixed naturally with the cool breeze of the forbidding night, his eyes alive with primitive savage satisfaction of exhausting himself in a physical battle. And of course, the hair. Ren Tao was one in a million.

Her heart- young, fragile, and utterly virgin in nature, which first learned to love when she met him- suddenly jumped. "R-Ren Tao?"

The moon suddenly appeared behind his head, having released itself from the blanket of the night sky. The luna regina gave out enough light to reveal their forms from the silhouettes awhile ago.

"You were expecting Santa Claus maybe?' Sarcasm was unmistakable in his voice. His gaze went to her injured knee, and for a moment, something unreadable flickered in his eyes. It disappeared as quickly as it came.

She stiffened when he knelt beside her, inspecting her bruise. Not contented, he put his weapon down and touched her abrasion.

"Clumsy idiot," he said, his voice losing substantial harshness, even bordering on tenderness. He looked at her sternly. "Let's go back in and clean the scrape."

And simple Pirika could only nod.

Chapter 5: Unforgetten 

Pirika inspected the stage where the play would take place. It was only barely a week before the actual stage presentation, and she was now starting to feel the _real _pressure of being the director. Some of the actors were acting like prima donnas, not cooperating with the rehearsals. Some of the scene backdrops had gone terribly wrong too. To make matters worse, the electricity had started to get crazier than usual, going on and off for more than twice in the hour already.

She massaged her aching temples. Now she understood how abused directors of plays were. She reminded herself to be contented with being the scriptwriter next year.

"Pirika, we have a problem!" Her assistant director suddenly came to her side. "The electricity was cut off downtown so the scripts weren't photocopied!"

"N-Nani?" She slapped her head. She had made some revisions on the script yesterday and she wanted to go over these today. She quickly turned to the cast and noticed Ren holding his script. She turned to her assistant. "Get his script and I'll photocopy it."

"You don't have to bother doing such trivial task. I can do it for you," said her assistant.

"Iie. I want to show some of our uncooperative actors my kind of leadership- that of by example." She went to Ren anyway. "Hand me the script."

He looked up. "What for?"

She sighed. "Don't ask. I'm just going to do some revisions."

He held it out of her reach. "Thumberena's lines are garbage as they are right now; don't make it worse."

"Don't argue with your director." Thanks to her height advantage, she was able to take the script from him effortlessly. She turned her back on him and headed for the elevators that would take her to the top floor- the office of the administration. There was a photocopier there, if she could remember correctly.

"Hey, hey!" Ren managed to insert himself in between the closing doors of the elevator. "Give me back my script!" Behind him, the door shut.

Pirika ignored him; she was writing the revisions on the script furiously.

Ren snatched her pen away. "Hey, I'm talking to you!"

"The nerve!" Her temper wasn't in the best condition due to her stress. "Give that back!" Thank God they were the only ones inside the elevator!

"My script, give it back first!"

"The hell I will!" She fought the urge to punch him- she didn't want Thumberena to sport a black-eye on the day of the play. _Count up to 10, Pirika. Release your anger…1…2…_

"I said I'm talking to you!" he barked.

_Count up to 100, Pirika._

"Gah! Look at me-" His words were cut when the elevator door opened. The teachers were about to enter the elevator too when Ren suddenly slammed on the close button of the elevator. It shut on the startled faces of the people.

Pirika was scandalized. "W-What did you do that for?!!"

"Well, _that_ got your attention." Ren smirked again. "Now that I have your full and undivided attention, maybe I can start asking for my script again?"

"I can't believe this! You're getting worked up on something so _trivial_," she hissed. "I'm not even changing your lines, for pete's sake!"

He paused. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"Because you pissed me off."

"You don't say." He turned his back on her. "Well, in that case, I better go back down-"

The elevator suddenly stopped moving. Everything was still, and the sudden silence was deafening. 

Pirika looked disturbed. "Engine trouble?"

Ren tried the buttons, but to no avail. Pirika looked for a phone, but found none. Franticness was starting to rise within her, but she fought to remain calm.

"Maybe a power failure. This thing will move soon," said Ren out of the blue. Was he trying to comfort her?

"Don't these things go with electricity back-ups or generators?" she asked.

He looked at the useless buttons. "No, I don't think so. But they have emergency measures for situations like these."

She leaned on the wall, suddenly feeling sweaty all over. Caged in the box with no ventilation or whatsoever was making her feel damn uncomfortable.

"Hell, it's hot!" Without warning, Ren took off his shirt.

She bit back her gasp. She saw his flesh back in Patch Village during his intense training and battles, then after some years when they were first rehearsing the play by the schoolyard, when he handed his shirt to cover her legs. But it was a worm viewpoint, not enough for her to fully appreciate it.

Now here he was topless, perspiration bathing the smooth ripples of muscles in his body.

And he was standing right beside her.

Now she felt hotter than ever. She turned her back on him, in an attempt to hide her flushed cheeks. Damn Ren Tao!

However, Ren had noticed her face. "You don't look too well. Unbutton your blouse a little," he instructed, mistaking her blush for a result of the claustrum.

"The hell I will!" she snapped.

"You might faint," he said, his voice strained. "Please, Pirika."

She blinked. He said 'please'?

He seemed to realize only now what he just said. He groaned. "Pirika, just do it! We don't know how long the power failure will be. I don't want you to faint."

"What is it to you if I faint?" she yelled.

"Will you stop acting childishly? I hold no malice, and I won't look at you, I promise," he said through gritted teeth.

"No!"

"I'll take that thing off myself then!"

She blinked, then blushed hotly. "I hate you!" She turned her back on him and undid the first button of her blouse. After some thought, she undid the second. After a little while, she felt better- air circulated inside her, cooling her a little.

She sat down on the floor, sighing. "Gomen nasai."

Ren sat down too, his eyes kept away from her as he promised. "Doushite?"

 "I shouted at you…you were just being sensible. Gomen, Ren." She sighed audibly as she tucked her knees and placed her chin on them.

"I'm surprised," he said after a moment of thoughtful silence. "The last time I heard you apologize was…" His voice trailed off.

Her heart ached. Did he really have to remind her of that?

And before she could stop herself, memories rushed into her mind…

_~*~_

"Gomen nasai…" she said softly as Ren knelt down in front of her to treat her bruise. "I disturbed your training."

_He glanced at her briefly. "Shut up."_

_She nodded and watched him wipe her bruise with a swab of cotton immersed in Betadine. This was much more painless than the usual alcohol treatment she does._

_She watched his usually sullen face become gentle as he nursed her scrape. His touch was light and soft, and she was simply astounded. The same hands that hold the spear and could summon a powerful spirit like Bason was actually capable of such tenderness._

_He was an enigma._

_~*~_

Ren could see that Pirika was reminiscing that fateful day again. He couldn't help but join her in the memory trek.

_~*~_

_"You were looking for your brother," he suddenly said, out of having nothing to say._

_She nodded. "Hai. He must have known I was coming. He can't understand that I'm doing all of these for his sake, because I want him to become a shaman king." Her voice faltered all of a sudden, perhaps realizing that it was only now that she was able to express her love for her onii-chan out loud, in front of Ren Tao even!_

_"He knows that," he said, his voice suddenly a bit too loud._

_She blinked, and he cursed himself. He went back to treating her knee. What the hell was he doing anyway? Horo Horo asked him to distract Pirika for awhile- and he didn't specifically say that he was allowed to do this to her. Hell, Horo didn't even tell him to converse like this with the girl!_

_"Done," he said, forcing emotion out of his voice again. Apparently though, his defenses weren't ready for her disarming smile._

_"Arigatou, Ren-kun…er, Ren Tao-san," she stammered, blushing._

_He shrugged. "Dou itashimashite." He turned his back on her quickly, avoiding to look at her lovely crimson face. He returned the Betadine in the medicine cabinet, and found Pirika plucking a flower's petals when he returned in the living room._

_~*~_

Pirika's bitter laugh brought Ren back to reality.

"Ne, I can't forget that. I poured my heart and soul into confessing, and you told me to go to hell. You hurt me badly," she said, tucking her hair behind her ear. 

He couldn't speak. How could he tell her that he only said that out of impulse? That he didn't know how to react, because she was the first woman to tell it to his face that she loves him?

He exhaled sharply. Why was he feeling the sudden need to explain? Why was her bitterness bothering him so? What the hell did he care?

"I'm sorry," he heard himself saying. And he found himself seated right next to her, his shoulder touching hers. Damn, how did he move without him being conscious of it?

"Why are you saying sorry?" she asked.

"I don't know." It was the truth.

Pirika looked at his eyes, seeing the reflection of the twelve-year-old girl who loved the Chinese shaman years ago. It was still there, within her. For all her attempts to bury that, she failed miserably on this one. She didn't count on them being alone like this in an almost isolated place, where it was next to impossible not to rekindle feelings.

But the show goes on.

"I had my revenge." A semi-sardonic smile spread on her face. "I cast you as Thumberena. No need to pity me." She looked up at the ceiling of the elevator. "But you know what, after this play, I want to stop this silly war already." She smiled sadly. _The more we bicker, the more you are endeared to my heart. If this continues, I'm afraid I would fall in love with you again. My heart is battered enough as it is._

"What then?" he asked.

She blinked. Was he asking about the future? What would happen between the two of them? Nah, just a misinterpretation of his words perhaps. Why would he be interested in such things? He had told her to go to hell, didn't he? She didn't dare to hope- disappointment was a painful thing to bear. 

But she couldn't concentrate on thinking anymore- his face was suspiciously coming closer to hers, or was it the heat playing tricks on her vision? Of course it was the latter. Why in the world would Ren Tao want to kiss her?

She felt a finger tip her chin up gently, and the back of the palm caress her cheek. The heat must be playing tricks on her sense of touch too, for why would Ren want to stroke her face this way?

Warm breath fanned the tendrils of her sweat-dampened bangs, and his fingers (in her imagination too?) combed them away from her eyes. She really had to snap out of this- it was getting too vivid for comfort.

And when she felt something delightfully warm touch her forehead, and electricity ran up and down her spine, she realized that she could have a pretty detailed imagination. If she would just dare not open her eyes…maybe she could go on imagining…

The warmth traced the delicate contour of her face, then paused. She didn't open her eyes- she didn't want her imagination to end yet.

"Pirika…"

The sound of him softly calling her name…it was enough to make all her goose bumps rise in romantic anticipation. The voice that could move heaven and hell, the voice that could command powerful spirits…once again she marveled on how tender it could be when not in battle, just like his touch.

"I have this stupid but insistent urge to kiss you," the voice continued, almost hesitantly. "May I?"

 Did she nod?

No matter, his lips were on hers already anyway. It was tentative at first, giving her a chance to pull away. She didn't, and his gentle pressure increased, urging her to open her mouth. When she did, he probed all its corners seekingly. When he found it, she could only shiver in pleasure. He was drawing out the honey-sweetness of her mouth, rendering her strengthless. She collapsed onto him, and his arms were quick to catch her, but their mouths never parted.

He pulled away a little to catch his breath, and she didn't realize that she was holding hers too. He let out a chuckle-one she knew she would only hear in her imaginations, just like this one.

"If I've only known sooner how lovely kissing you is, I shouldn't have denied the urge years ago," he murmured.

_Years ago?_

"One more kiss?" he asked hopefully.

Her thoughts were disoriented, but she was aware of how beautiful the kiss was. Funny, she didn't know imaginations could be this lucid…  

When a sudden movement jerked both of them on the floor. The door opened, revealing the entire cast and crew of the play gaping at them.

"Wha-" Scandalized looks, amused looks, sneers, teasing looks…they were all thrown mercilessly at them, and there and then, she realized that what happened in the elevator…the kiss…it was…

"Shit!" She stood up, not bothering to button her uniform. She had to get out of that place! Her face turned crimson as she remembered how she easily forgot about her promise to never fall for Ren Tao again. God, he kissed her and she consented it!

She was outside the school gates already when she stumbled. She fell down on the ground, and to her dismay, scraped her knee too.

Her eyes welled with tears. This would go right to the record books as the worst day of her life.

"You are still clumsy." Ren Tao appeared from the school gates.

She shamefully wiped her tears away. "W-What are you doing here? It's rehearsal."

"And you?"

"I'm resigning from being the director."

"Because I kissed you in the elevator?" He gazed at her steadily. "Just to set the record straight: I will not apologize for kissing you." He knelt down beside her and looked at her bruise. "Let's go back to the stage and clean that bruise."

Years ago, she could have just nod and obeyed him meekly. But that was then. She slapped his hand away. "Do you enjoy hurting me all the time, Ren Tao?"

"What gave you such idea?"

"You won't apologize for kissing me. Is that because I'm cheap as a whore?"

"I won't say sorry because you kissed me back, and you delighted me," he said calmly. He carried her effortlessly.

"Damn it, put me down! Ren Tao, I demand that you let me go!"

"Shut up."

Her face crumpled. "That's the problem with you! You never take me seriously! You told me to go hell when I told you I love you! You made fun of me because I was so easy to respond to your kiss. You're so cruel!" She clenched her fists. "OK, I'm sorry for challenging you with that red card. Just…just put me down."

"No."

"Please?"

That got him. He looked down at her, and when he saw how miserable she looked, he sighed audibly. "Fine. Go take a rest when you get home."

The minute she was deposited back to her feet, she ran towards the street. She needed her onii-chan desperately; she promised him that if she can't endure the situation anymore, he was always there.

Ren, on the other hand, could only watch her, a face mixed with a tumult of emotions.

**tsuzuku**


	7. Wakatte Itahazu

"Pirika?"

The voice penetrated her hearing. She sniffled, then wiped her tears. She then pasted a forced smile on her face. "Onii-chan!"

Horo Horo sat down beside her, looking worried. "What's wrong? Are you sick?"

"Iie."

"But you don't look well." Horo peered at her face. "Did someone hurt my sister?"

When she didn't reply, his jaws tightened. "Tell me what happened. Who did this to you? I swear, I'll make that person pay dearly-"

Pirika threw herself in his arms, crying. "Onii-chan, just hold me…hold me close and don't let me go. Just…just like this."

"Pirika…" The Ainu decided to just do what his sister says for the meantime. He wrapped his arms around her and allowed her to pour her heart out on his chest.

**Chapter 6:Wakatte Itahazu (I Should Have Known)**

Pirika clapped her hands together. "OK, listen up, you guys. Tomorrow is the big day…all our hard work will culminate in a sixty-minute stage play. Give all your best in those sixty minutes, do you understand?"

Whistles, applauses, and loud "Yeah!" resounded in the auditorium.

Her eyes went sideways and saw Ren sitting by the window, far away from them. He was busy reading the script.

She sighed- she still couldn't get rid of her habit of ogling him. There was just something about Ren Tao that she couldn't get tired of.

She casually shifted her attention back at the cast. "Be here at exactly four in the afternoon, clear?"

Her assistant raised her hand. "Let's head for the restaurant and have an advanced backstage party! A celebration of making our team last in the rehearsals."

"Good idea," she agreed enthusiastically, especially when the school administration decided to treat them to it.

However, she noticed Ren wasn't coming with them. She felt the urge to call him and ask him to join them, but in the end, pride won over her. She wouldn't talk to him even if he was the last person in the world- she would rather die with her oral fluids unused.

One of the propsmen called the Chinese' attention. "Ren Tao, aren't you coming with us?"

He didn't even look back; he merely raised his hand to shake it, saying 'no'. 

Pirika could feel some of the people's gazes at her. She couldn't blame them; it had been hardly one week since the incident in the elevator happened. She didn't resign from being a director because she realized that she must be responsible enough to carry out the project no matter what. However, it goes without saying that her working relationship with Thumberena had deteriorated. They hardly talk to each other, which was fine by her. She didn't know what she would say to him anyway if he approaches her,

"Let's go," she said to her group mates, resisting the urge to look back at the figure walking away.  

Ren sighed. It had been five days since he and Pirika started to avoid each other deliberately. He placed his hands into the pocket of his pants. He wished that he could muster the guts to approach her, for he had a lot to tell her. But the fangs he could bare in his battles would turn into baby teeth everytime he sees her.

Bason appeared beside him. "Master Ren, you mustn't worry too much. You'll do fine tomorrow."

"Of course," he said lamely.

"Please keep your spirits up, Master. I'm sure that you and Miss Pirika can talk this through," said the power spirit cheerfully.

Ren turned to him, annoyed. "I am NOT thinking of her, dammit!"

Bason scratched his head with his finger. "But then, your thoughts-"

"Don't read my thoughts! It's private!" The Tao exhaled sharply and hastened his pace.

"Master Ren, forgive me! I won't ever do it again!" said the spirit, trailing after him. "It's just that I only want to see you happy, and when you're with her, you're happier than you usually are!"

"You're imagining things."

"Hontou?"

"Real-ly." Ren gave him a brief glance. "And when this play ends, I'm outta here!"

"You're transferring?"

"I'm going back to doing what I really love: training." Ren looked up at the sky. "I have yielded to my sister's caprices long enough."

"But didn't you say a week ago that you were getting used to being a regular student?" The spirit sighed. "Ever since that elevator incident-"

Ren froze. "D-Don't tell me you were there with me inside the elevator?"

"Where else could I be except by my master's side?" smirked Bason.

The Chinese shaman was shocked. In the entire five days, the power spirit hadn't brought it up. He then thought that Bason was out drinking with Mosuke and Amidamaru. Damn, why didn't he even sense the presence of his trusty guardian? Was he that lost in her sweetness?

And just like old lovers, the memory of kissing the Ainu woman reunited with his mind. Her softness in his arms, her scent, her lips.

"I thought you and Miss Pirika does that thing all the time so I didn't ask anymore," explained his spirit, rubbing his cheek. "Like for instance, right now, you're thinking of her again."

"I said, do NOT read my thoughts!" The rope of his temper was near its breaking point.

"That night some years ago, you never forgot her confession. And somewhere deep down your heart, you never let go of her."

"Stop it!"

"Gomen, Master Ren, but a true Tao never runs away from his battles…and he confronts his fears head on. You are the clan head, so you must know these things."

"I am not running away from anything and I fear nothing."

"Iie." Bason's voice became firm. "You are running away from the fact that you fear how your whole being changes when you're with her. You're not comfortable with the idea that you lose control of yourself when you're with her."

Ren was silenced.

"Think it over tonight, Master. Just be true to what you feel, then it will be alright." Bason smiled. "It's alright to change, to lose control, to not know; as long as you feel that it is because of true love."  

"Nee-san?"

Jun looked up from her embroidery. Ren was standing outside her door awkwardly, holding two cans of sterilized milk. She smiled when he threw her one of the cans.

"May I stay here?" he asked as he sat down beside her. "I want to get drunk."

"With milk?"

"Of course."

"Why would you want to get drunk?" She looked at her little brother, who didn't mature much since the last time he asked if he could stay beside her eleven years ago.

"Bason is driving me nuts."

"You can always handle him."

"Not tonight. My nerves are uncooperative."

Jun clapped her hands. "You're excited about tomorrow, aren't you?"

He played with the can of milk quietly, wondering whether he should bring up what Bason kept on telling him.

Jun paused. "No, it's not it. Getting drunk is not about Bason or the play." She shook her head smilingly. "Men with face like yours get drunk for only two reasons- because he is in love, and because he is out of love. Which one?"

"I don't know," he found himself saying. "Bason says I'm in love."

"And you believe him?"

"Yes-er, no."

"Good, because the only one you have to believe in is yourself." Jun touched his hand. "And what does yourself says about it?"

"I like…I like kissing her." He looked at his can thoughtfully. "I like seeing her. I like talking to her. I like the feeling she gives me when I hold her close, like when we were practicing the ballroom scene of the play. I like thinking of her. I like seeing her mad, because she can be really cute when her eye blaze and her cheeks turn faintly crimson. But when she smiles, her eyes twinkling and her lips curved beautifully, I sometimes wonder whether I like her best happy or angry. I like how she makes me fell both like a boy and a man. I like remembering over and over how she told me she loved me once upon a time."

"In a nutshell, you're crazy about her," said Jun. "That is so easy to deduce. What is so hard about admitting that you feel that way about her?"

He shook his head. "Because it's so much easier to hate a person than to love someone with all your heart and soul, with force enough to move the skies and the seas. It's scary…one minute I find it delightful to irritate her, and the next minute, I was kissing her passionately, then later, I'll discover how hard it is to live without glancing at her every other minute to check on her, or to feel that protective instinct when someone tries to get close to her, or when I have to exhaust all my self-control not to grab her and kiss her again." He smiled sadly. "I didn't know how much she had meant to me until now, and it hurts…even much more than all the pains Father gives me in our trainings. Those wounds heal, but not this hollow ache I feel."

Jun understood. Her brother wasn't used to the notion of loving, for he was reared in the ways of battles. _No wonder he's so unsure about his feelings._

Ren held his can of milk up. "Toast!"

Jun laughed, and clicked cans with him. "To my neurotic brother who took him four long years to realize that he loved the young Ainu girl too. May the other men his age be not like him."

"Cheers!" he smiled bitterly.

It was the day of the play, and Ren was stunned to see that none of the cast was there yet, not even Pirika.

He was starting to get a very bad feeling about this.

Their English class teacher looked worried too. "Where are they? It's already five! The play will start at 5:30!"

Just then, Horo Horo burst into the backstage. "Teacher, teacher! Where is the English teach-" He froze when he saw a familiar looking face dressed in a frilly gown, hair tied with ribbons. Even in the girly get-up he could recognize the aura the person emits.

"Ren Tao?!!!!" Horo Horo quickly came to him, and Ren knew that it was too late to hide. "Gah, don't tell me you're Goldilocks!" He barely finished his sentence when he broke into boisterous laughter.

"Goddamit! Don't you make fun of me!!!" He grabbed a broomstick and aimed it at the still laughing Ainu. 

Just then, the teacher appeared. "Is someone looking for me?"

Ren glared at the shaman. "The sensei is here already."

Wiping a tear from his eye, Horo turned to the teacher. "Sensei, we have a problem. It's Pirika and the others. See, they went out to eat in a restaurant, but it ended up that the food served there was stale. So they were all victimized by food poisoning and they're all in bed now because they keep on vomiting and going to the bathroom…you have to reschedule the play!"

The teacher looked frantic. "But we cannot reschedule it anymore! The exhibition is one day only!"

The Ainu's face fell. "But my sister will be heartbroken!"

The woman looked like she was ready to wage World War III. "I'll talk to the manager of the restaurant, and I swear, I'll sue them even to the highest court!"

Ren clenched his fists. He personally witnessed how hard Pirika worked on this play, and he wouldn't let anything put her efforts to vain.

He turned to Horo. "Are Yoh and the others already there?"

"Yeah, they're in the audience."

"Call them now so we can show them the script."

Horo was stunned.

Ren smiled. "The show must go on, as your sister always says."

**tsuzuku**


	8. ThumbeRena 1

"OK, now everyone, get into your costumes!" said Ren after he had shown his friends the script.

Lyserg was the first to complain. "Wait a minute! Why am I the frog in this story? I don't have warts!"

Ren smirked. "You're green." He looked at the cast of characters and ticked them off. He still had one vacant role left in Pirika's script.

"We still need a narrator," he told them panickedly.

"Maybe I can be of service," said a horrendously familiar voice.

Yoh's face lit up. "Aniki!"

Ren's face turned dark as Hao Asakura entered the backstage, obviously uninvited but his confidence was unwavered. His impeccable smile was disposed. "Maybe I could help you with your little play?"

Lyserg's look was beyond homicidal. "Hao…"

The cheerful man held a gloved hand up. "Hey, long time no see, Lyserg Diethyl. How is the Iron Maiden and her bodyguards?" he asked as if they were long-time acquaintances.

Yoh rubbed his head. "Aniki, you know that Lyserg doesn't like being teased."

"Ah gomen!" Hao grinned at his younger brother, then turned to Ren. "So what's the story about?"

The Tao couldn't trust himself to speak; he might end up screaming his brains out with colorful profanities that came to him like a flash of inspiration. Like Lyserg, he never liked Hao's cocky attitude and how he nearly killed one of his best friends-cum-greatest-opponent.

Hao grabbed the script and let his eyes wander on the paper. His face broke into a grin. "Cute." He smirked at the boiling Ren. "Really cute. Thumberena."

"Kisama…" Frankly, the Tao couldn't understand why the Ying Yang master reincarnated would want to have anything to do with a high school play.

To this, Hao said flippantly, "I'm bored as hell, and seeing you in a gown is an entertainment."

Ren fought for the grip of the loosening reins of his temper. He wasn't going to ruin Pirika's hard work for anything and anyone, even for someone like Hao Asakura. 

"Two minutes," said the English teacher, frantically signaling the proxy cast of characters to prepare for curtains up.

Hao smiled at Ren conspiratorially. "Don't fret, Hao Asakura will help." He then turned his attention to the mirror and combed his hair. "Hey, little brother, Anna will be watching, right?" he asked as he slid his fingers through his hair.

Yoh rolled his eyes. "I told you, Aniki, it's ok to admire your future sister-in-law, but…"

"Hai, hai, I was just teasing you." Hao grinned at the now costumed cast. "It's show time!" 

Chapter 7: ThumbeRena Part I 

**_My birthday blowout to Ren/Piri fans, as well to Hao worshippers! Enjoy!_**

**_--- Syaoran no hime who just turned 17 this September 27th._**

****

****

Hao walked to the centerstage, his mantle fluttering along with his promenade. He faced the audience, flashed a killer smile any toothpaste commercial model would gnash his teeth for, and greeted, "Konnichi-wa, ladies, especially to my favorite future sister-in-law…ah, wait, I only have one brother, but she's a favorite nevertheless." He could feel the lethal glare of Anna Kynarrator," he told them panic. "What we will witness now is a remake of the well-loved fairy tale by Hanes Christian Underwear-"

Ren marched into the stage furiously. "It's Hans Christian Andersen, you idiot!!!"

Horo Horo, from the backstage, slammed his hand on his face. "He wasn't supposed to appear yet, Ren Tao no baka!"

Yoh sighed helplessly. His aniki will always be his usual annoying self.

Hao grinned at the furious costumed Ren. "Why, I'm sorry, ThumbeRena!" He grinned at the gaping audience. "Guys, meet ThumbeRena." He turned to the kindergarten kids in the front seat. "Kids, say hello to ThumbeRena."

"Hello ThumbeRena!" greeted the kids in chorus.

"Wow, Mommy wasn't kidding when she said that Thumbelina was small!" said one kid, looking at Ren's miniature stature in fascination.

"Is that a doll? A walking talking doll?" piped another kid. "Where did they buy her? She's so cute!"

Hao held his hand up. "Kids, let's listen first to the story of ThumbeRena, ok?"

"Yes Sir!" they all saluted.

"Call me King Hao."

"Yes, King Hao!" said the children obediently, as Yoh and the others backstage sweatdropped. Anna's own face was dark as Tamao watched her nervously.

"What is he thinking," muttered the itako. "When he failed to rule the world, he resorted to brainwashing kids…that nincompoop."  

Hao motioned Ren to go back into the backstage, and then started to walk back and forth the stage. "Now…how do I begin narrating ThumbeRena's sucky and worthless existence…" From the back of the curtains, the suspicious sound of someone being restrained from committing murder was heard by the audience, but the kids were oblivious. Their whole and undivided attention was on their King Hao.

"Oh yes." The shaman king wannabe clapped his hands. "Once upon a time, long, long ago in a kingdom far, far away-"

"How long ago?" asked a kid curiously.

"And how far?" asked another.

Hao smiled. "The time when there is no Mcdonald's yet, in a place where even the Disney channel cannot reach their TV antennas."

The kids looked frightened out of their wits. Hao nodded sympathetically. "I know, it's plain horrible."

"Well, Aniki has a way with kids, I must admit," said Yoh, laughing. Everyone else in the backstage was wearing dark faces.

The Ying Yang master continued. "So as I was saying, our story is set in a McDonald-less era in a Disney Channel-less place. There was once an old woman who lived amidst a beautiful garden, with lots of flowers, and um…" Hao forgot the flowers enlisted in the script. 

One child was apt enough to notice his hesitation. "What are the flowers there?"

"Many to mention," said the man quickly. "OK, so this old woman…" He cleared his throat. "THIS OLD WOMAN…" he said when no one entered the scene.

At last, a tall, lanky figure limped towards the stage. "Aaw, my aching back," said the old woman in a frightfully deep, baritone voice forced to sound hoarse, but managed to sound like a carabao drowned underwater.

Some of the less-braver kids started to hug each other in horror, blinking back tears.

Hao smiled comfortingly. "Don't worry kids, grandma may look scary, but she's human…er, at least that's what she claims," he said in an afterthought.

"Hao!!!" yelled Ryu, his real voice surfacing from his false falsetto.

"It's King Hao!" barked the kids angrily, whose loyalty belonged to Hao already.

"Hey, let's get on with the story, you guys," said the narrator, smiling charmingly. It instantly melted the kids _and_ the more grown-up girls in the audience into a helpless _Aaw_.

"Now, this old woman wished to have a daughter, but her good ole husband was impotent-" Hao was saying when Ryu stomped his feet on the stage. "Dammit, don't say things like that!"

"Grandma old woman is defensive!" smirked Hao. 

"De-de…" said the kids.

"Defensive," he repeated.

"De-fen-sive," said the kids obediently.

"So the old woman wanted to have a daughter, and the fairy of wishes heard her mute longings," said Hao, pointing upwards. Manta was tied in a wire, face green. He was suffering from the fear of heights that he thought he never had. He clutched his wand tightly and prayed that Chocolove and Horo Horo were handling the ropes well.

"What is it that you wish for?" he greeted.

Before Ryu could speak, one kid spoke up. "Is that fairy a relative of ThumbeRena?"

"Fairy's hair is kawaii!"

"Grandma's hair ROCKS!"

Hao snickered. "But my hair is still the best, right, kids?"

"Yes, King Hao!"

Manta cleared his throat then turned to Ryu again. "I presume that you wish to have a daughter."

Ryu nodded. "My dearest wish," his voice was back in its false high-pitch, making the kids cringe. Hao shrugged. Oh well, if even life isn't perfect, what more can you expect from a high school play? Damn, he was the only one born to sinless perfection.

"Here is a barleycorn of a different kind to those which grow in the farmer's fields, and which the chickens eat; put it into a flower-pot, and see what will happen." Manta waved his magic wand, signaling Horo to start dropping the *magical* seeds.

Unfortunately, Horo's eyes were on Tamao, who was watching the play, her lovely face trying to suppress the giggles within her because of the itako's presence. Ah, she was really cute, no matter what angle he looks. He silently wondered if he could make himself ask her out on a cup of coffee or something later, after the play.

Manta waved his hand again and again, and the audience was starting to snicker.

Hao smiled. "The wand is malfunctioning, eh?" He snapped his finger, and the seeds fell from unaware Horo's clenched fist.

The audience blinked; the kids cheered. "King Hao, you're the best!!!"

Hao bowed exaggeratedly, then winked at Yoh and his friends. They were all gaping at him in disbelief. 

"Unbelievable," was all Lyserg could mutter.

Chocolove noticed what was happening below, then tapped Horo. "Hey, Boro Boro!"

The Ainu blinked. "Huh? What?" Startled, he suddenly lost grip of the rope. Choco tried to maintain his grip, but the rope broke.

"Uh-oh," said the two, just seconds before the Fairy of Wishes slammed on the floor face first.

"The fairy crashlanded!" yelled the kids.

"The Fairy is gaining weight," explained Hao quickly, winking at them.

"So will she fly up again?" asked one child.

"Her wings are broken, unfortunately. We'll see what Grandma can do about it," said Hao cheerfully. "Hope her bones aren't broken; she might not grow up anymore."

Ryu dragged the furious Manta into the backstage. "Come, Fairy, let's glue your wings back."

"So what happened to the seeds?" asked the children.

"Oh, of course!" Hao smiled. "The seeds were extraordinary, and they can grow even without being watered, so the seeds sprouted," he snapped his finger, and the seeds magically grew into a lotus.

"Such special effects!" whispered one judge fiercely. "If I didn't know better, I swear it could have been magic." To this, Hao smirked, marveling at how unintelligent humans are, especially when they pretend to know so much about things they haven't have a single idea about.

"And from here, we'll close the curtains, and we can now all prepare for the second act." Hao pulled the rope, and the curtains fell down.

**tsuzuku**


	9. Thumberena 2

"Welcome back, our dear audience," said Hao cheerfully when the curtains rose. "Before we go to the second act, let's have a recap on the events in the first act – we met Thumberena, and we also met the fairy and the old woman, who both had issues in life. Now we continue."

Chapter 8: Thumberena Part II

Hao started his narration. "Now the lotus has blossomed, and the old woman was delighted with its beauty."

Ryu appeared again, holding the flower and sniffing it delicately. "What a lovely flower!" The moment he brought it close to his nose, Hao snapped his fingers, and the flower exploded right under Ryu's face.

"Oooh!" squealed the kids in delight.

"And from the flower emerged a maiden whose height is insignificant compared even to my…" He looked down at his pants and the audience' eyes widened, waiting for what he would say. Hao looked up and winked. "…belt."

Collective groans from the more adult audience.

Ren at last appeared in the scene, sitting inside a neon pink paper flower.

"Neon pink?" cried the judges in disbelief.

Hao heard that. "I told you those seeds were magical." He coughed. "And so, the small delicate maiden looked up and found the burnt face of the old woman due to the explosion. She smiled."

Ren looked up at the direction of the stage light, pretending to look up to the old woman from somewhere, while Ryu's dubbed voice floated in the stage.

"I will name you Thumberena!" said Ryu's voice.

Ren wanted to snort, but he delivered his line anyway. "Thank you, Ma'am. I love that name."

Hao snickered. "And Thumberena _curtsied_."

Ren looked at him in shock. That wasn't part of the script!

He snickered some more. "Thumberena CURTSIED."

The fuming Tao had no choice but to hold the hem of his skirt and curtsy.

Horo, who was tying Manta into the string, saw what Ren did. He burst out laughing, and in doing so, accidentally lost grip of Manta. The fairy yet again dropped face first on to the stage floor. 

Thumberena looked at the fairy in disbelief.

The kids giggled. "Told you they're relatives!"

Hao cleared his throat. "The fairy suddenly dropped in to check if the seeds she gave the old woman weren't expired, and now that she saw they weren't, she would now collect the payment for the seeds. So off she went to find the old woman." He smiled at the midget, who instantly seized the chance to run back into the backstage.

Hao turned back to the audience. "Thumberena is very happy living with the old woman, and vice versa. However, their happiness together wasn't bound to last, because the happiness of a human being is weak, and the human beings are pathetic and feeble-hearted. Thus to change this, we need shamans who can dispose of these human beings who are only polluting our world-"

"Hao Asakura!!!" yelled a voice from the backstage and the audience.

Hao grinned. "Oops…I just thought I have a parliamentary immunity here and privilege speech too. Now where was I? Oh yeah, so someone else noticed the beauty of the little maiden. Every afternoon, he would be there ogling Thumberena. It was the frog. "

Lyserg in a frog mascot was pushed out from the backstage, and he marched towards the centerstage fuming.

"Teacher was wrong; frogs can walk on two legs!" said one kid.

Hao snickered. "Yes, only English frogs can do that."

"Really?" said the children, fascinated by how much their King Hao knows.

Ren then pretended to play and skip around as Lyserg hid behind the stone, watching him.

"Such a cute maiden!" he said, dishing out his best Oscar-winning performance. "Kokak."

He scowled when he heard his friends in the backstage laugh maniacally. He sighed; they wouldn't understand true acting even if it was right under their nose anyway. He continued to speak. "I want to have her for my wife…._kokak_."

Hao nodded. "So when the English frog saw the chance one night while Thumberena was sleeping, he pounced on her, grabbed her, and kidnapped her!"

Lyserg tensed his muscles, then began to leap on his legs madly towards the Ren in the neon pink flower. He carried Ren on a piggyback, then started to leap out to the backstage as if he was a frog. Unfortunately, he underestimated Ren's weight, and on his second jump, he tripped, accidentally hurling the screaming Ren out into the backstage.

"Will Thumberena be alright?" asked the kids curiously.

"The frog should have just walked," said another child.

Hao came to the center of the stage. "So what will happen next to our heroine? Will she survive her fractures? We will find out when we return-" He was about to pull down the curtains when he heard a scream.

"I'm fine! Let's go on with the story!" said Ren, limping towards the stage.

"Yay for Thumberena!" cheered the children.

The onmyouji smiled. "Fine, if you say so." He walked back to his place. "Now, let's go back to the story. Thumberena was kidnapped by the frog, and he was now forcing her to be his wife…"

Lyserg clasped Ren's hands. "Please make this amphibian happy by being his wife, oh beautiful Thumberena…kokak."

Ren buried his face on his hands and shook his head firmly. "Never!" he cried in a girlish voice. "I am not happy here. Just bring me back to my dear old woman!"

Lyserg shook his head. "You'll be happy here too. You'll be the queen of my kingdom."

Hao snickered. "Well froggy, how would you expect Thumberena to marry someone as ugly and clumsy as you are?"

The dowser glared at him. "Shut the f*** up, Hao Asakura." He then saw the audience blink, so he added, "Kokak."

Hao smirked, then went back to his narration. "To be sure that Thumberena won't try to escape, froggy left her in a floating leaf in the middle of the river as he busies himself in building a love nest for the two of them."

Lyserg smiled at Ren. "I'll be back, my beloved bride." He suddenly felt the urge to look out onto the audience, and then blinked.

Marco was watching! And if there was Marco, then there must be…

The silver-haired girl smiled at him and waved. The dowser felt his whole body petrify. Jeanne-sama, _the_ Jeanne-sama, was watching him!!! And he was dressed in a frog costume!!!

He couldn't take it anymore. "Aaaaaargh!!!!!" He ran out into the backstage in shame.

Hao smirked. "And Thumberena cried and cried; a frog didn't want to marry her! A cursing clumsy English frog at that! He refused her in the last minute!"

The judges' jaws dropped; indeed, the story had a weird twist.

"The fishes and the flowers heard her melancholic cry, and out of pity, but mostly out of annoyance with her noise disturbing their peace, the fishes nudged the leaf forward, sending Thumberena adrift. The micromaiden was only too happy to be away from the disgusting frog. So for many days, she drifted, and sang with the birds and marveled at the beauty of her surroundings."

Meanwhile, Yoh and the others were sighing in relief. Hao was beginning to take the narrator's job more seriously.

"However, her happiness was short-lived, for she was able to attract the attention of a beetle." Hao snickered. "Her sex appeal is really something, huh? And are all forest animals that horny, always stealing women just like that for wives?"

Chocolove appeared, wearing a cockroach costume.

"Eew," said the kids collectively.

"Do cockroaches look like that?" Hao asked in fascination, inspecting the rare species of crossbred beetle and cockroach standing on the stage.

 Chocolove went to Ren, grinning. "Wow, you'll make a lovely wife! I'm taking you with me now!"

Ren did his best to look afraid. "No, no, please. I am quite happy where I am now…"

"Nonsense!" Choco then grinned. "Hey, do you know what one beetle said?" Without waiting for his answer, he said, "It's been a hard day's night, and I've been working like a dog…" he sang. "Get it? Beetle? Beatles?"

Blank looks. But before the cockroach could think of another joke, Hao spoke up. "After failing to make the Thumberena laugh, the cockroach seized the girl by the waist and kidnapped her. Poor girl…why does she end up being lusted on by losers anyway?"

Ren glared at him as Chocolove dragged him indeed, by the waist, into the backstage.

Hao continued. "However, when they arrive in the beetle's house…"

Ren was dragged into the center stage once again, and he blinked. He forgot to cast the characters for the beetles' relatives!

"Yipes!" yelled Chocolove when he saw Amidamaru, Mosuke, Bason, Tokageroh, and Eliza garbed in cockroach costumes. Ren checked the audience and saw that they didn't think it weren't ordinary actors they were seeing in the mascot costumes.

Ryu's dubbed voice appeared again, in an even higher pitch this time, just as Amidamaru stepped forward. "What kind of creature did you take home for us?"

Horo's high-pitched voice went next as Bason stepped forward and inspected Ren. "Her arms are too pudgy! And what's with her pointed hair? Ugly!"

Faust' voice came when Tokageroh stepped towards Ren. "She is too human-like," he said in a deep, sexy cool voice, making some of the girls in the audience scream and squeal in delight. Indeed, Tokageroh sounded like a radio DJ.

Manta's voice went next when it was Eliza's turn. "She has no feelers! She is ugly!"

"You really think so?" asked Chocolove, rubbing his head. "Oh…alright."

Hao smiled. "And with that, the beetle-cockroach threw her out to the nearest garbage incinerator."

"No, he didn't!" yelled Ren.

"Thumberena, don't complain. I am the narrator here," said Hao, smiling. "According to the script, you will meet a mouse, so where else can you find a rat but in the trash? Field mice are not realistic."

Ren was about to protest when Hao added, "Anyway, according to the script, you should be depressed because you feel so ugly, after you were refused two times. If I were you, I would commit suicide. Life's handing you a message already."

He faced the audience. "What will become of Thumberena now that she ended up in garbage? Will she stink? Will she be able to fight the urge to take a bite of that half-finished quarter pounder beside her?"

"Eew!" said the audience in chorus as Ren fumed.

"We will find out in the third act!" And with that, Hao closed the curtains, but not without screams from the female voice, demanding to show them the voice actor of beetle in a cockroach costume no.3.

Yoh grinned as he put on his costume. "Faust, they love you!"

The doctor grinned, then hugged Manta. "Thanks for voicing my beloved Eliza!"

Manta freaked out. "Yoh!!!"

Hao smiled at them. "Get ready for the third act, you guys." He smiled at his younger brother. "Good luck, kiddo!"

"Thanks, aniki!" Yoh grinned back.

**tsuzuku**


	10. Thumberena 3

When the curtains opened, Hao appeared once more on the center stage. "Now for some recaps…"

"Thumberena was born into the world courtesy of a neon pink lotus that the Fairy sold the old woman. A talking, walking, _cursing_ English frog fell in love with her and kidnapped her, but for some reason, the frog changed his mind and fled away from Thumberena in horror. Next, a crossbred cockroach and beetle found her and decided to make her his wife, but she didn't pass the initial screening of the beetle's friends. The beetle ended up throwing poor Thumberena to the nearest garbage incinerator and this is where our third act will start."

Chapter 9: Thumberena Part III

Hao pointed to the new stage that the propsmen, Horo and Chocolove just laid; a giant garbage can, where Ren was seated, face buried in his palms. His shoulders were shaking in inconsolable grief.

The onmyouji began to speak. "Just then, he felt someone touch his shoulders. The lass opened his eyes and, alas! A big, black mouse stood in front of her, looking at her curiously."

Faust, wearing a pair of big black mousy ears and an apron, was kneeling in front of him, smiling. "Dear, you look so sad and hungry that you're starting to suspiciously look like you're going to get that piece of quarter pounder beside you."

Ren blinked, and indeed, beside him, a giant Wcdonald's burger wrapper is beside him. How ever did Horo and Chocolove manage to produce those props in such a short notice was a mystery for the Tao.

"That's my lunch, mind you," said Faust, playing with the whiskers on his face. "But if you want, I have some food back in my house…they're not as good as the food here though."

Ren started to look nervous, and before he could talk, Faust the Mouse pulled him along, nearly making him trip over the hem of his skirt.

Hao began his narration once more. "Soon they arrived in the rat's domicile…"

The stage backdrop changed into a palace-like mansion that suspiciously looked like the White House.

Ren's jaw dropped. He seriously doubted if this was the original script he knew Pirika wrote.

"This is where I live," said the mouse cheerfully. 

"W-Wha…" The Tao nearly screamed when he saw that Eliza was hovering beside Faust, dressed in a maid's uniform that reminded him of those he sees in the VCD covers of the hentai pics in Horo Horo's collection.

In the backstage, Horo was proudly drumming his fist on his chest. "How do you like my personal fashion design? I had Tamao make that some days ago!"

Ren was astounded as to how the spirit was able to wear it. When he looked at the playing innocent whistling onmyouji, he immediately understood that wondering about it had been a waste of time.

"My personal maid," introduced Faust cheerfully. Eliza bowed politely. She was wearing a wig with ridiculously long bangs, and her legs were covered with fishnet stockings so no one would be able to guess that she was a spirit. "Eliza, serve our guest some dinner please."

To Ren's shock, Ryu, wearing a butler costume, pushed a rolling tray of food towards the grand dining table. It was piled high with the finest-looking food, which, no doubt, was Hao's doing. He had learned to grow wary of how Hao could shame the borderline of impossible and possible.

"W-What are you doing in the garbage incinerator when you have a house this big?" Thumberena couldn't help but ask.

"The food I want is not here," said the Field Mouse. "I want a week old quarter pounder with spoiled cheese, but my cook cannot provide me that. Life here is hell."

Hao then continued his narration. "Thumberena then started to tell the mouse with purple make-up her circumstances, and the dear rat had no choice but to believe her. Then, the mouse suddenly had an idea…"

"Why don't you just stay here in my house for the winter? I will then help you find yourself a more comfortable place to settle in when summer comes," said Faust.

"Oh thank you!" said Ren, bowing.

"Thumberena curtsied," snickered Hao. "CURTSIED." He was shot a lethal glare by the Tao, but the latter did it anyway. Satisfied, the onmyouji proceeded with the rest of the story. "Winter came, and Thumberena and Mrs. Mouse stayed indoors all the time and knitted. Soon enough though, they grew bored of manipulating threads so Mrs. Mouse suggested out of the blue that they play Vingt-et-un with real bets. Bored to death, naïve Thumberena nodded."

"What's vingt-et-un?" asked a man from the grown-up audience. 

Hao smiled. "It's a game of cards played with a full pack, the object being to draw cards on which the aggregate number of spots should reach as near as possible but not exceed." 

To this, one of the kids slash disciples of Hao raised a hand up inquiringly, "In short, black jack?" 

Everyone sweatdropped as Hao chuckled.

The scene showed Ren and Faust sitting on the floor, cross-legged. They were both concentrating on their cards. Moments later, Ren grinned triumphantly. "20."

Faust smiled sweetly as he showed his cards. "21. You lose."

Hao grinned as well. "And the punishment of their game is to take off one article of clothing."

Ren looked at him incredulously, but the onmyouji merely smiled languidly. He looked down at himself, then took off his slippers.

To his dismay, in his next round, he lost again. He took off his ribbon. His only article of clothing left was his gown.

And he lost again.

He could feel the expectant gazes of everyone at him as he unbuttoned his collar. He didn't know whom he wanted to kill first- Faust who heartlessly defeated him or Hao who heartlessly planned this stupid script.

He untied the ribbon of his bodice, his chest about to show when Hao suddenly talked. "Just then, a guest appeared."

Horo, dressed in an old man's coat and tie, complete with eyeglasses and walking cane, came into the scene. "Dear me, what obscenity!" cried Horo.

"And who are you supposed to be?" snapped Ren, who forgot his role momentarily.

Hao chuckled. "Temper, temper, Thumberena. His name is supposedly Mr. Mole, and according to the script, he would marry you, so be nice to the old man."

Ren's hair stood on its end, vibrating in annoyance. "I don't wanna marry him!"

Horo Horo rolled his eyes. "The feeling is mutual, actually. I mean, hello? I'm in love with Tamao." 

Love.

The simple four-lettered word suddenly made Ren Tao freeze, for he was suddenly overwhelmed by unexplainable sadness.

Pirika.

The audience blinked as the actors on the stage seemed to forget the situation.

Hao walked over to him, holding his script up. "Alright, children, break it up. We still have to finish this play-"

Ren suddenly took his wig off and threw it onto the floor in fury. "That's it!!! I had it with this utterly weird and bizarre play! I'm sick of all of you!"

The whole auditorium was silenced.

"Everything is going rottenly!" He glared at Hao, eyes burning. "Pirika worked really hard on this production and yet look at what you did! You made the whole play into a carnival! I don't think I can ever have the heart to tell her afterwards what happened to her pet idea…it will break her heart, I'm sure of that." He strode towards the curtain. "Let's just end this-"

"Wait!" one of the kids stood up, eyes welling up with tears. "Don't pull the curtains down yet…I still wanna know what happens to Thumberena."

Another kid stood up. "That's right. You can't end the play without telling us what will happen in the end."

A couple more kids stood up, nodding furiously. "We want more Thumberena! It's really good!"

Soon, all of the little kids, and even some of the more grown-up audiences were standing up too, pleading for them to continue. Ren could only watch in fascination.

Horo nudged him. "Hey, they're asking for it. Let's just give it to them, ok?"

Hao chuckled. "You know what they say: the voice of the people is the voice of God."

The chair of the board of judges stood up, smiling. "I really think you should continue it too. It's quite entertaining."

Hao smiled. "Besides, you might just lose the chance of a lifetime…dancing with the other half of your heart."

Ren blinked when he saw Pirika by the backstage, waving.

"Wha…what is my sister doing here?" asked Horo Horo in shock.

"Opacho fetched me, and gave me the best medicine for my food poisoning." She smiled ruefully. "Gomen, Ren Tao. I shouldn't have allowed the cast to party before the play so you wouldn't have to feel upset now."

Hao laughed, then raised a thumbs-up to Chocolove, who was manning the sounds system. The waltz of the flower dance began. Over the soft music, Hao began yet again his narration. " We had a little trouble awhile ago when Thumberena discovered that she was just a character from a story, and because of that, she wanted to leave our play today with no ending! And because, you, the gracious audience protested, Thumberena reconsidered. Furthermore, just when we thought that we'll lose ourselves one of the best-loved fairy tale characters in our books, true love came to Thumberena all of a sudden to convince our character that the magic hasn't disappeared yet. There is still a chance to keep the magic forever." The onmyouji was speaking in volumes, and Ren knew that. It was some kind of signal to encourage him to do what was on his mind.__

_There is still a chance._

Pirika reached at the back pocket of her pants and placed the paper crown on her head. "I am the Prince of the Flowers, and it will be my happiness if you become my queen."

He smiled slowly, almost bashfully. "What will I be if I'm not yours?" And he took her in his arms, leading her to the waltz, hugging her close to his heart, where he knew she belonged right from the start.

One kid looked confused. "Wait, where did the prince come from, King Hao?"

The onmyouji smilingly shrugged. "From the mountains of the Ainu…he was late because he suffered from food poisoning."

"H-How did it happen? I mean, how did Prince fall in love of Thumberena all of a sudden?"

Hao looked at the dancing couple. "There are just things that we cannot explain. We don't know where it came from, how it came, why it came. It just happens. It's called destiny."

"What's destiny?" another child asked.

"It's something that happens while we're busy making plans." He watched the couple sway in blissful ignorance, then noticed the grim Horo Horo. He decided to come to the Romeo and Juliet's rescue. "Mr. Mole, who according to the script, wanted to marry Thumberena, was displeased that she found herself a husband aside from him, so he proceeded to use his ice power- something that he learned from Captain Planet's Academy on one of his cruise vacations to US."

True enough, Horo was about to attack Ren when Hao stuck his foot out, tripping the Ainu.

"King Hao to the rescue!" cheered the children. Hao, on the other hand, winked at Tamao in the audience and gestured for her to take Horo away. The prophetess quickly understood his intention and stood up to get Horo Horo.

"Damn you, Hao!!!" yelled Horo as Tamao approached him. "That asshole is touching my sister! I don't' want to have a brother-in-law like him!"

"Who are we to argue against destiny?" said Hao, smiling back. He turned back to the couple. The music had long stopped, but the waltz for the two had just begun.

"Ren," whispered Pirika tentatively. "Are you mad at me?"

"Why should I be?" he asked huskily. Holding her this close to him was pure bliss.

"J-Just asking…" Her eyes clouded. "I know you can never forgive me for what I did back in Patch Village…that was stupid…t-then I made you Thumberena…I have this feeling that Hao humiliated you awhile ago. I don't really know because Opacho and I arrived late. What did I miss in the play?"

"Pirika, shut up," he ordered as his face heated. No use embarrassing himself further. Hao managed to make him feel worse than a rape victim in front of Pirika right now.  "Let's not talk…let's dance."

"Thanks for pulling the play together," she said after the brief silence. "After this, I promise to stay away from you. I won't provoke you into anger anymore."

"Damn, you talk too much." Ren sealed her mouth with his silencing mouth, just as Hao, who was pulling down the curtains, concluded, "By some bizarre events, Thumberena found the other half of his heart, and although how everything came to this would forever be a puzzle to us who witnessed the play, it is just one proof that fate has hands that work magic in our lives too. There are just things that, no matter how improbable or unlikely they seem, are just simply meant to be. The end."

They were given the standing ovation just as Yoh, dressed in a sparrow costume, appeared on stage, rubbing his eyes. "Guys, I fell asleep. Gomen. Is it my turn yet?"

Everyone sweatdropped.

In the audience, Anna was smiling smugly as she talked in the cellphone. "Yes, Master Mikihisa, my Yoh was the best actor in the play! In fact, he was given the standing ovation TWICE!"

Horo Horo suddenly paled in the middle of their group vow. "W-Wait…" It was as if it was only now that hit him what he just said onstage awhile ago. He looked at Tamao on the sideline, who was smiling at him.

"I…I said it, didn't I?" he asked, voice barely above a whisper.

The prophetess understood it though. She mouthed to him, "Yes, you did, but please don't worry about it anymore." Horo Horo though was inconsolable.

"Aaaarggh!! NO!!! She knows already how much I worship the ground she walks on!! Gah!!!!!" Horo wailed as Manta tried to calm him.

And in the backstage, a traumatized Lyserg was the first person Hao met. He smiled. "Hey, Diethyl-san, we need all of the cast to do the group bow." He chuckled when he saw the deadly glare the dowser gave him. "Come on, Lyserg, don't be a spoilsport. The kids are looking for you."

The kids.

What a subtle blackmail. Typical Hao Asakura. Lyserg had no choice but to put his costume back and face the audience.

Despite himself, his eyes went to the certain section of the audience. His heart skipped a beat. Jeanne was applauding him! Well, technically, she was applauding all of them, but for a moment, he swore she smiled his way…

Pirika took off her crown and placed her headband back. She was the only one left in the dressing room because everyone else headed for Yoh's house to celebrate. She, on the other hand, stayed in the auditorium for the last-minute briefing her teacher gave because they would have a re-run of the play next week, since Thumberena was a phenomenal success.

She opened the door to leave and instead found Ren standing by the wall, arms crossed. She was surprised. "Ren?"

He straightened. "Let's go."

"Ne, you didn't have to wait up for me," she said softly.

"We have something to talk about," he said simply.

"Er…" She blinked when Ren faced her suddenly, a pink blossoming rose on his hand.

"Let's try it again," he said quietly. He started to pluck the petal of the rose one by one. "She loves me, she loves me not. She loves me, she loves me not. She loves me…"

"R-Ren…"

"…she loves me not, she loves me. She loves me not…" His voice shook as he picked his last petal. "Well, it doesn't matter. She loved me once upon a time, then I'll just fight to get her to love me again."

Pirika bent down and picked the last petal that fell on the pavement. She handed it to him. "She still loves you, with all her heart and soul, Ren Tao. Then and now…it was only you."

His heart leaped. "P-Pirika…"

"Only you," she repeated with all her heart's conviction. 

Ren's forehead creased, and for awhile, Pirika thought he was turned off by her outspokenness.

Then he groaned. "I want to kiss you, but do I have to tiptoe?" His costume awhile ago had him wearing a stiletto, so he had no problem awhile ago.

Hao, watching the two from the treetop, chuckled. "All's well that ends well, eh, Opacho?"

The servant nodded. "Master Hao, your brother is expecting us there."

The onmyouji shrugged. "Yoh will understand if I won't be there anymore. Froggie-san, Cockroach-san, Thumberena-san…they won't want me there…and Anna Kyouyama-san too." He waved encouragingly at Ren, who was still contemplating how to kiss Pirika without tiptoeing.

"Do you want me to kneel?" asked Pirika teasingly.

"Shut up!" His face burned.

"Don't worry, someday, when you grow up, you can kiss me the way you want to already."

"I'll be back. I'll just borrow Thumberena's heels." He paused. "Or on second thought…" He pulled Pirika along with him. After all, the dressing room was more private than Yoh's house anyway.

The end 


End file.
